/  .  2.0  .  /S 


<^^  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  ^ 


Purchased   by  the   Hamill    Missionary   Fund. 


BV  3415  .073  1908 
Osgood,  Elliott  I.  1871- 

1940. 
Breaking  down  Chinese  walls 


Breaking  Down  Chinesi 


Breaking  Down 
Chinese    Walls 

From  a  Doctor's  Viewpoint 


.■',1  -•  ' 
JAN  ' 


/     By 
ELLIOTT  L  OSGOOD,  A.  M.,  M.  D. 

Missionary  at  Chu  Cheo^  Anhwui  Province^ 

China^  under  the  Foreign  Christian 

Missionary  Society 


New  York  Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 

London  and  Edinburgh 


Copyright,  1908,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  125  No.  Wabash  Ave. 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London :  2 1  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:      100    Princes     Street 


Introductory  Note 

DR.  ELLIOTT  L  OSGOOD,  the  author 
of  this  work,  has  been  in  China  as  an 
evangelist  and  physician  for  eight  years. 
Chu  Cheo,  a  town  about  forty  miles  northwest 
of  Nanking,  has  been  the  scene  of  his  labours. 
The  doctor's  work  has  been  to  conduct  a  hospital 
and  dispensary  in  the  central  station  at  Chu 
Cheo,  visit  and  preach  the  Gospel  and  heal  the 
sick  in  the  outstations  and  villages  round  about. 

While  at  home  on  his  furlough,  Dr.  Osgood 
visited  many  American  centres,  speaking  in  the 
interest  of  the  work  in  China.  His  addresses 
were  so  illuminating  and  so  enjoyable  that  there 
was  a  general  demand  for  their  publication. 
These  addresses  constitute  the  substance  of  this 
book. 

Dr.  Osgood  had  it  in  mind  from  the  first  to 
show  that  the  daily  life  of  the  missionaries  is  one 
of  the  most  effective  agencies  in  winning  the 
Chinese  to  Christ.  He  has  shown  that  the 
mother  in  her  home  caring  for  the  children  plays 
a  part  scarcely  less  important  than  her  husband 
in  the  pulpit  and  in  the  hospital. 

The  Chinese  know  nothing  about  Christianity 
before  the  missionary  comes  to  them  and  they 

5 


6  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

care  less.  They  have  been  proud  of  their  time- 
honoured  institutions  and  rehgions.  The  mis- 
sionary must  not  only  preach  Christ  to  them  but 
he  must  demonstrate  by  Uving  illustrations  the 
superiority  of  Christianity  over  their  heathen 
systems. 

For  this  purpose  the  missionaries  have  opened 
dispensaries,  hospitals  and  schools.  They  have 
surrounded  their  homes  with  western  con- 
veniences and  comforts.  They  have  given  lec- 
tures in  chemistry,  electricity  and  mechanics 
with  experiments.  The  superiority  of  modern 
tools  over  those  used  by  the  Chinese  has  been 
shown.  The  Chinese  have  been  given  oppor- 
tunity to  compare  foreign  saddles,  sewing  ma- 
chines, stoves  and  the  construction  of  the  mission 
houses,  with  their  own  products. 

In  the  mission  hospital  not  only  has  the 
superiority  of  modern  surgery  and  medicine  been 
shown  them  but,  far  more  important,  they  have 
seen  and  felt  the  difference  between  the  crude 
and  rough  handling  of  the  sick  by  their  own 
physicians  and  the  tender,  sympathetic  work  of 
the  medical  missionary.  They  may  not  at  first 
appreciate  the  cleanliness  enjoined  in  the  hos- 
pital, but  they  cannot  help  but  be  impressed  with 
the  skill  and  gentleness  of  the  foreigner  as  he 
quiets  the  fevered  patients  and  drives  away  the 
pain. 

The  view  of  a  man  and  woman  standing  on 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE  T 

equal  relations,  at  first  shocks  them,  but  the 
longer  they  study  the  phenomenon,  the  more 
must  they  be  impressed  with  its  power  over 
future  generations.  It  had  not  occurred  to  them 
that  a  man  could  find  sweet  fellowship  with  one 
of  the  opposite  sex.  They  had  not  dreamed  of 
a  love  like  that  manifested  in  the  mission  homes. 
The  elevation  of  womanhood  to  her  rightful  place 
by  the  side  of  her  brother  has  played  a  great 
part  in  the  elevation  of  modern  nations.  It  is 
slowly  dawning  upon  the  Chinese  that  if  they 
would  become  like  other  nations  their  woman- 
kind must  be  given  their  rightful  place. 

All  of  these  demonstrations  are  but  an  exposi- 
tion of  the  power  of  Christ  to  uplift  humanity  and 
eventually  must  lead  the  Chinese  to  accept  Him. 
They  are  a  practical  people.  They  will  only  de- 
sire an  article  after  its  value  has  been  proven  to 
them.  By  the  homes,  schools,  hospitals  and 
other  institutions,  which  missionaries  have  been 
planting  in  China,  the  vital  value  of  Christianity 
to  the  needs  of  the  Chinese  is  being  demonstrated 
and  is  winning  them  to  Christ. 

This  book  is  different  from  any  other  book 
upon  the  Chinese  problem  that  has  come  to  my 
notice.  It  gives  information  the  people  desire, 
and  in  a  concrete  form.  No  one  can  read  what 
Dr.  Osgood  has  written  without  being  enlight- 
ened and  without  being  drawn  into  fuller  sym- 
pathy with  the  men,  women  and  children  at  the 


8  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

front.  Those  who  wish  to  know  what  a  mis- 
sionary family  does  and  how  it  is  done  cannot  do 
better  than  to  read  this  most  interesting  work. 

Archibald  McLean, 

President  of  the  Foreign  Christian 
Missionary  Society. 
Cincinnati^  igo8» 


Contents 


I.  The  Entering  Wedge 


II.  A  Day  in  the  Dispensary  .        .        .23 

III.  Stories  of  the  Hospital   .        .        .34 

IV.  In  the  Opium  Refuge         .        .        .44 

V.  The  Missionary  Compound        .        -55 

VI.  The  Missionary  Home  as  an  Evangel- 

istic Agency 67 

VIL         The  Gospel  Through  a  Brace  and 

Bit 77 

VIII.  The  New  Age  in  China     .        .        .87 

IX.  Working  with  the  New  Element      .    98 

X.  Seeking  for  Straws  of  Hope    .         .107 

XI.  Do  THE  Chinese  Converts  Make  Sin- 

cere Christians      .        .        .         .116 

XII.  My  "Timothy" 126 

XIII.  Do  Little  Girls  Count     .        .        .137 

XIV.  A  Chinese  "  Dorcas  "...  145 

XV.  "Happiness  is  Come"        .        .        .154 

XVI.  Chinese  Roads  and  Streets       .        .164 

XVII.  When  We  Go  Itinerating        .        .173 

XVIII.  The  Chinese  Evangelist    .        .        .184 

XIX.  The  Chinese  as  Givers       .         .        .  192 

XX.  A  Missionary  Sanitarium  .         .        .  200 

XXI.  The    Fascination    of    the    Mission 

Field 209 


II 


List    of   Illustrations 


Facing  page 
A  Part  of  the  Kuling  Valley  with  the  School  Buildings 

in  the  Foreground Ti^/e 

Worshipping  at  the  Confucian  Temple  by  Successful 
Candidates 24 

Mission  Hospital  at  Lu  Cheo  Fu,  Anhwui  Province, 
China.  Dr.  Buchart  who  has  this  Hospital  in  Charge, 
Treats  from  One  Hundred  to  One  Hundred  and  Fifty 
Patients  a  Day     . 24 

Missionaries  Turning  Aside  from  their  Conference  to  an 
Afternoon  Tea 69 

The  Author's  Home  in  Chu  Cheo,  China.  His  Dispen- 
sary is  Seen  at  the  Right 69 

A  Group  of  Influential  Chinese  who  Studied  with  the 
Author loi 

Chinese  School  Children  at  the  Chu  Cheo  Dispensary   ,     loi 

Chinese  Christians  in  Convention 134 

Mr.  Shi,  the  Story -Teller  Evangelist  of  the  Chu  Cheo 
District  and  Mrs.  Shi,  the  "  Dorcas  "  of  her  Village  .     148 

Mr.  Chen  Li-Seng 148 

Djao  Lai-fu  and  His  Charges 162 

Little  Missionaries 162 

Entrance  to  Chu  Cheo  City,  Showing  Rut  of  Wheel- 
barrow in  Paving  Stones  ;  City  Gates,  Wall  and  Moat; 
and  a  Wayside  Restaurant 17 1 

Travelling  on  the  Road  in  Sedan  Chairs  with  Wheel- 
barrows as  Freight  Cars     171 

Evangelist  Koh  and  Family  of  Chu  Cheo  District        .     187 
Evangehst  Djao  who  was  Picked  Up  from  the  Ranks  of 
Famine  Refugees 187 


Breakinpf  Down  Chinese  Walls 


I 

THE  ENTERING  WEDGE 

IN  the  midst  of  His  higher  ministry  to  men, 
Christ  was  ever  busy  heaUng  their  diseases 
and  relieving  their  pains..  The  most  suc- 
cessful mission  work  has  been  done  in  those 
places  where  the  missionaries  first  ministered  to 
the  diseased  conditions  of  the  men  whose  souls 
they  were  seeking  to  save. 

David  Livingstone  won  his  way  through  Africa 
with  his  medicine  chest  and  a  few  well-chosen 
surgical  instruments.  Peter  Parker  opened 
China  to  the  Gospel  by  use  of  the  lancet.  Dr. 
Allen  saved  the  life  of  a  Korean  prince  after  the 
native  doctors  had  tried  in  vain  to  staunch  the  flow 
of  blood  with  sealing  wax.  It  was  through  this  act 
that  the  Hermit  Kingdom  was  thrown  open  to 
mission  work.  Evangelical  missionaries  tried  in 
vain  to  enter  Kashmir  until  Dr.  Elmslie  with  his 
medical  skill  paved  the  way  for  the  entrance  of 
Christianity.  Likewise  Dr.  Carr  succeeded  in 
establishing  a  mission  station  in  Ispahan,  Persia, 
when  other  methods  tried  by  his  bishop  had 
signally  failed. 

II 


12     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

The  history  of  missions  shows  that  medical 
work  is  the  key  that  unlocks  the  door  to  heathen 
hearts.  Simple  help  like  the  pulling  of  a  tooth, 
the  lancing  of  an  abscess,  the  giving  of  a  dose  of 
quinine,  or  the  application  of  sulphur  ointment, 
has  opened  regions  hitherto  unaccessible.  It  is 
the  purpose  of  this  chapter  to  show  how  medical 
missionaries  have  been  used  in  opening  China  to 
the  Gospel. 

The  Need.  The  scale  of  living  among  the 
large  portion  of  China's  millions  is  very  low. 
Ignorance  concerning  the  laws  of  hygiene,  sani- 
tation and  health  is  dense.  They  have  no  quar- 
antine. The  meat  from  dead  animals  is  eaten  by 
poorer  classes.  Kitchen  refuse  is  thrown  into  a 
cesspool  at  the  front  door.  Typhus  and  typhoid 
fevers,  cholera  and  smallpox  are  prevalent 
diseases.  Dirty  clothes  and  hands  are  applied 
freely  to  inflamed  eyes  until  chronic  inflammation 
of  the  lids,  ingrowing  eyelashes  and  opacity  of 
the  cornea  result  therefrom.  Sloughing  of  the 
entire  foot  frequently  follows  foot  binding. 
Bruises  and  injuries  to  the  skin  surface  resolve 
themselves  into  ulcers.  Ulcers  are  covered  over 
with  gummy  plasters  which  force  the  septic  dis- 
charge into  the  general  circulation.  Lack  of 
cleanliness  causes  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  diseases 
which  appear  at  the  door  of  the  missionary 
hospitals. 

Evil  spirits  are  supposed  to  be  the  cause  of 


THE  ENTERING  WEDGE  13 

most  diseases.  The  Chinese  physician  seeks  to 
cure  the  condition  by  expelling  the  evil  spirit. 
For  this  purpose  he  uses  a  long  needle  which, 
cold  or  hot,  clean  or  dirty,  he  thrusts  into  the  part 
of  the  body  affected  by  the  disease.  His  pur- 
pose is  to  make  an  opening  through  which  the 
spirit  may  depart.  Into  the  liver  or  neck,  knee 
or  elbow  joint,  it  is  thrust,  setting  up  inflammation 
and  abscesses,  often  rendering  the  part  forever 
stiff. 

Some  of  the  experimental  knowledge  gleaned 
by  Chinese  physicians  is  valuable,  but  it  is  so 
often  mixed  up  with  superstitious  ideas  as  to 
render  much  of  their  practice  useless  and  even 
dangerous  to  life.  They  use  a  large  variety  of 
vegetable  drugs  but  with  these  they  mix  tigers' 
claws,  lions'  bones,  human  flesh,  blood  of  animals 
and  like  peculiar  ingredients. 

Even  such  service  as  they  qan  render  must  be 
monopolized  by  the  richer  classes  as  the  poor 
people  have  little  money  with  which  to  pay 
doctor's  bills.  The  Chinese  have  no  free  dispen- 
saries, no  hospitals,  no  charitable  institutions, — 
or  did  not  have  until  Christian  missions  taught 
them  the  lesson.  A  poor  man  falls  by  the  road- 
side and  remains  there  until  he  recovers  his 
strength  or  dies.  His  dead  body  may  lie  un- 
buried  until  wild  dogs  and  wolves  devour  the 
flesh  and  only  the  whitened  bones  are  left  to  tell 
the  story  of  another  tragedy. 


14     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

Infanticide  is  common  among  the  lower  classes. 
The  evidences  of  its  practice  are  constantly  before 
the  eyes  of  the  missionary.  Invariably  it  is  the 
girl  babe  which  is  destroyed.  The  people  have 
little  knowledge  as  to  the  proper  food  for  chil- 
dren and  large  numbers  of  them  are  carried  away 
each  year  by  pestilence.  Those  which  survive 
are  constantly  beset  with  ills.  Babes  are  tied  to 
the  back  of  an  older  sister  and  all  through  the 
day  the  little  eyes  are  allowed  to  face  the  glare  of 
the  sun.  Dust,  dirty  washclothes  and  the  prev- 
alence of  specific  diseases  do  the  rest  to  rob 
many  a  child  of  sight  when  it  has  just  begun  to 
see. 

To  save  washing  and  watching  the  child,  its 
clothes  are  so  made  that  it  can  care  for  itself. 
The  seeds  of  social  impurity  are  thus  sown  at  a 
startlingly  early  period.  Parents  do  not  restrain 
their  talk  before  the  children  and  the  child  lan- 
guage becomes  innocently  vile.  Missionary 
children  cannot  be  allowed  to  associate  with  them 
because  of  this  contamination. 

There  is  another  need  for  medical  mission- 
aries. Protestant  Christendom  has  sent  out  sev- 
enteen thousand  men  and  women  to  bear  the 
Gospel  to  heathen  nations.  Ten  thousand  chil- 
dren are  growing  up  in  those  Christian  homes 
whose  circle  and  circumference  are  walled  back  by 
squalor,  filth  and  contagious  diseases,  and  whose 
atmosphere  is  penetrated  by  a  weakening  climate. 


THE  ENTERING  WEDGE  15 

These  missionary  centres  are  often  separated 
from  medical  aid  by  many  days'  journey.  Five 
hundred  and  fifty  men  and  two  hundred  and 
fifty  women  physicians,  eight  hundred  in  all, 
have  been  sent  out  who  not  only  have  the  care 
of  the  health  of  the  missionaries  in  their  keeping, 
but  also  are  annually  treating  three  millions  of 
heathen  patients  in  a  thousand  hospitals  and  dis- 
pensaries. Medical  missionaries  often  ride  fifty 
or  one  hundred  miles  to  reach  the  bedside  of  one 
of  their  fellow  workers. 

The  Method.  In  large  Chinese  centres 
modern  hospitals  have  been  erected  either  as  the 
gift  of  friends  in  the  homelands  or  by  rich  Chi- 
nese who  appreciate  the  value  of  modern  medi- 
cine and  surgery.  The  main  building  of  a  mis- 
sion hospital  may  contain  a  chapel,  waiting 
room,  examination  room  and  dispensary.  Wards 
for  men  and  women,  surgical  and  medical  cases, 
opium  breakers  and  special  cases  give  room  for 
patients  who  must  remain  under  the  doctor's  care 
for  a  time.  Conveniently  situated  is  a  modern 
operating  room.  To  these  main  departments 
will  be  added  other  buildings  to  be  used  for 
kitchens,  assistants'  room,  laundry,  etc.  In  small 
cities  the  buildings  are  less  elaborate,  built  to  fit 
the  local  needs. 

In  the  greater  number  of  the  hospitals  the 
whole  responsibility  rests  upon  the  shoulders  of 
one   medical   man  who   must   meet  every  call, 


16     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

e 
whether  medical  or  surgical.  He  must  be  an  ex- 
ecutive, handling  assistants,  cooks  and  coolies. 
He  must  watch  and  instruct  every  assistant  dur- 
ing the  clinics,  operations  and  subsequent  nurs- 
ing of  patients.  The  buying  of  supplies,  the 
preparation  of  dressings,  the  paying  out  of 
moneys  and  even  the  presenting  of  the  Gospel 
to  the  thousands  of  patients,  must  be  under  his 
guidance. 

The  daily  clinic  will  have  patients  from  the 
next  door  and  a  hundred  miles  away.  Each 
patient  is  accompanied  by  one  or  more  friends. 
They  gather  in  chapel  and  listen  to  the  Gospel 
story  as  they  wait.  Each  patient  pays  a  nomi- 
nal fee  and  is  registered  as  to  name,  age,  sex, 
home  and  disease.  Each  receives  a  copy  of  a 
Gospel.  The  door  to  the  examination  room  is 
opened  and  in  turn  they  file  in  and  are  treated. 
The  abscesses  are  lanced,  the  ulcers  cleansed  and 
dressed ;  the  surgical  cases  referred  to  the  oper- 
ating room  and  hospital ;  the  medicine  is  pre- 
scribed and  instructions,  as  to  taking  it,  carefully 
given.  The  number  of  those  who  daily  pass 
through  the  various  dispensaries  is  from  ten  to 
three  hundred.  The  friends  who  accompany 
them  are  legion. 

The  doctor  watches  all  the  cases.  Under  his 
eye  the  assistants  do  the  cleansing  and  dressing 
and  the  giving  out  of  drugs.  It  is  difficult  for 
the  Chinese  to  comprehend  the  mysteries  of  for- 


THE  ENTERING  WEDGE  lY 

eign  medicines.  Too  frequently  the  patient  has 
taken  the  external  application  internally  and 
rubbed  the  internal  medicine  on  the  outside. 
The  value  of  bathing  and  deep  breathing,  as 
remedial  agents,  has  never  occurred  to  him. 

The  operating  room.  Surgeons  on  the  mission 
field  take  great  care  to  hold  their  technique  up  to 
modern  standards.  They  read  the  best  medical 
magazines  and  spend  a  goodly  part  of  their  fur- 
loughs in  post-graduate  work  in  medical  col- 
leges. They  train  their  assistants  to  properly 
sterilize  dressings  and  instruments  and  prepare 
themselves,  the  operating  room  and  the  patient 
for  the  operation.  One  of  them  must  be  trained 
to  become  an  anesthetizer. 

The  list  of  operations  performed  in  a  mission 
hospital  reads  like  a  compendium  on  surgery. 
It  is  safe  to  say  that  nowhere  in  the  wide  world 
can  such  a  variety  of  aggravated  cases,  needing 
surgical  interference,  be  found.  The  patients 
have  passed  through  all  the  stages  of  neglect  and 
mal-treatment  by  the  native  doctors  and  fre- 
quently come  to  the  foreign  physician  as  a  last 
resort.  A  successful  operation,  under  such  con- 
ditions, usually  meets  with  proper  marks  of  grati- 
tude and  prepares  favourable  soil  for  the  recep- 
tion of  the  Gospel  through  subsequent  conva- 
lescence. 

The  hospital.  The  wards  have  cement  or  wood 
floors.     The  walls  are  plastered  and  well  lighted. 


18     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

Such  surroundings  are  very  different  from  those 
found  in  the  Chinese  home.  Where  possible  the 
hospital  owns  its  own  bedding  and  has  clothing 
for  the  patients.  When  a  patient  is  received,  he 
is  given  a  thorough  bath,  his  clothes  are  steril- 
ized and  put  away  and  he  is  given  a  suit  of 
clothes  from  the  hospital  supplies.  When  he 
leaves,  his  own  clothing  is  returned  to  him. 
Such  is  not  always  the  case.  Where  funds  are 
insufficient,  the  patients  must  bring  their  own 
bedding  and  wear  their  own  clothing,  but  such  con- 
ditions are  not  favourable  for  good  medical  work. 

The  walls  of  the  hospital  are  decorated  with 
Scripture  texts  and  pictures  in  the  Chinese  lan- 
guage and  art.  The  spirit  of  Christ  is  poured 
out  upon  the  patients  in  tender  ministry  to  their 
diseased  bodies.  Having  nothing  to  do,  they 
are  in  a  receptive  mood  to  hear  the  Gospel.  The 
Chinese  evangelist  and  foreign  doctor  go  among 
them  and  both  teach  and  illustrate  the  message 
by  their  ministry.  Some  of  these  patients  are  in 
the  hospital  for  a  day  or  two.  Some  remain 
there  for  months. 

Teaching  the  assistants  is  a  necessary  part  of 
the  doctor's  work.  The  servants  must  be  taught 
how  to  clean  the  rooms  and  furniture.  The  cook 
must  learn  how  to  prepare  food  for  sick  people. 
The  medical  assistants  must  long  and  carefully 
study  modern  medicine.  The  best  medical 
works   must  be  translated  into  the  vernacular. 


THE  ENTERING  WEDGE  19 

The  doctor  himself  must  learn  to  put  it  all  into 
their  language  and  thought.  Every  clinic  be- 
comes a  recitation,  every  movement  an  example. 
The  assistants  must  not  only  become  skillful 
doctors,  but  skillful  Christian  doctors.  An  un- 
principled assistant  can  undo  all  the  good  work 
done  by  the  doctor.  The  reproduction  of  the 
Christ-life  in  them  will  double  the  influence  of 
the  hospital. 

The  medical  missionary  visits  patients  in  their 
homes.  To  the  homes  of  the  poor  he  will  go 
without  charge.  The  rich  readily  pay  a  proper 
fee  and  make  subscriptions  to  the  hospital. 
The  doctor  attends  births,  suicides,  cases  of  con- 
tagion and  virulent  fevers.  He  is  even  believed 
to  have  power  to  raise  the  dead  and  finds  him- 
self called  to  a  home  where  death  has  preceded 
him  by  several  hours. 

The  Results.  The  influence  of  the  medical 
work  extends  beyond  the  bounds  of  all  other 
missionary  activities.  No  single  evangelist  with 
a  corps  of  Chinese  helpers  can  visit  as  many 
towns  as  are  represented  by  the  patients  who 
come  to  a  single  dispensary.  The  work  has  no 
geographical  bounds.  The  evangelist  may  be 
driven  out  of  a  place  by  fanatical  mobs,  but  no 
such  power  can  stop  the  sick  in  that  place  from 
entering  the  mission  hospital. 

We  might  tell  of  mobs  in  distant  places  who 
have  been  stilled  by  the  mediation  of  some  one 


20     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

who,  through  ministration  to  his  sick  body,  has 
been  brought  under  the  spell  of  Christ,  and  who 
now  willingly  endangers  his  own  life  to  save 
that  of  some  missionary ;  or  of  the  homes  which 
have  been  thrown  open  to  the  evangelist  itiner- 
ating into  distant  places  ;  of  the  churches  which 
have  sprung  up  and  flourished  for  years  before 
being  reached  by  the  preacher,  all  under  the 
fostering  care  of  the  same  grateful  patients,  who 
have  been  saved  both  body  and  soul,  while  on  a 
forced  visit  to  the  foreign  hospital. 

Common  labourers  have  refused  pay  for  little 
helps  rendered  to  the  doctor,  because  of  his 
kindness  to  them  when  they  have  been  sick. 
Consecrated  evangelists  have  come  from  the 
ranks  of  opium  sots,  saved  from  the  toils  of  the 
opium  demon  by  the  ministries  of  the  doctor. 
Thousands  caught  their  first  glimpse  of  the  Christ 
while  in  the  hospital  and  are  humbly  following 
Him  to-day. 

Grateful  patients  among  the  rich  classes  have 
willingly  subscribed  to  the  funds  of  the  hospital 
and,  in  cases,  have  built  entire  hospitals.  The 
assistants  have  been  called  to  take  charge  of 
institutions  supported  entirely  from  Chinese 
sources  and  have  carried  their  religion,  as  well 
as  their  medical  skill  into  these  new  spheres 
of  activity.  Other  students  have  set  up  inde- 
pendent practice,  and  also  become  centres  for 
the  spread  of  Christianity. 


THE  ENTEKING  WEDGE  21 

The  medical  missionary  bears  a  heavy  respon- 
sibility in  the  development  of  the  new  church. 
Upon  him  falls  the  responsibility  of  instructing 
these  babes  in  Christ  in  lessons  of  cleanliness, 
social  purity  and  sanitary  science.  He  becomes 
family  doctor  to  the  Christians.  From  him  they 
have  learned  that  disease  is  not  caused  by  the 
entrance  of  evil  spirits  into  the  body.  Christian 
medicine  is  an  enemy  to  all  quackery,  supersti- 
tion, exorcism,  and  witchcraft.  Wherever  it  has 
come,  these  tools  of  Satan  have  been  broken. 

Works  on  physiology  and  anatomy  have  been 
translated  into  almost  as  many  languages  as  the 
Bible  itself.  They  have  been  introduced  among 
the  Chinese  and  are  now  being  used  as  text-books 
in  their  public  schools.  The  mission  hospital  is 
a  school  for  the  teaching  of  the  science  of  health. 
Upon  the  medical  missionary  has  fallen  the 
responsibility  of  the  health  of  the  entire  mission- 
ary body.  The  long  terms  of  service  in  uncon- 
genial climates,  the  rearing  of  children  in  un- 
sanitary surroundings,  the  strenuous  hardships 
endured  in  this  great  service  of  Christ  have  been 
made  possible  by  the  untiring  devotion  of  the 
medical  associate. 

It  is  no  small  thing  that  strength  and  health, 
skill  and  learning,  tenderness  and  sympathy, 
wealth  and  personality,  should  be  freely  given  to 
the  destitute  and  decrepit,  the  foul  and  vile,  the 
poor  and  homeless.     The  medical  missionary,  in 


22     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

the  midst  of  the  multitudes  crowding  around 
and,  on  bended  knee,  imploring  his  ministrations 
in  their  behalf,  is  not  unlike  Him  who  made  the 
blind  to  see,  the  lame  to  walk,  cleansed  the 
lepers,  unstopped  the  ears  of  the  deaf,  raised  the 
dead  and  preached  the  Gospel  to  the  poor.  **  I 
was  naked  and  ye  clothed  Me ;  sick  and  ye 
visited  Me  ;  in  prison  and  ye  came  unto  Me." 


n 

A  DAY  IN  THE  DISPENSARY 

SILKS  and  satins  may  be  seen  here  and 
there  among  those  gathered  in  the  waiting 
room  of  the  mission  dispensary  but  the 
greater  part  of  the  patients  are  wearing  faded 
and  much  patched  cotton  garments.  An  Ameri- 
can tramp  would  be  ashamed  to  wear  some  of 
the  garments  displayed.  Yet  these  patients  are 
not  tramps.  They  are  refugees,  day  labourers, 
and  fuel  cutters  who  are  suffering  under  a  weight 
of  oppression  and  sickness,  people  who  rarely 
know  a  full  meal. 

A  number  of  them  are  opium  smokers,  A 
**  hitter  of  the  pipe  "  can  be  told  by  his  stooped 
shoulders,  discoloured  teeth  and  the  burned  holes 
in  his  garments.  Some  time  when  he  has  been 
nodding  over  his  pipe,  his  coat  has  come  too  near 
the  flame  of  the  opium  lamp.  Ask  him  if  he 
smokes  and  ten  chances  to  one  he  will  deny  it. 
Pick  up  the  index  finger  of  his  right  hand  and 
show  him  the  stain  that  comes  from  the  daily 
moulding  of  the  little  opium  ball  which  he  must 
heat  and  roll  into  shape  for  the  bowl  of  his  opium 
pipe.     He  will  look  up  with  a  foolish  grin  and 

23 


24     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

remark  to  the  other  patients  about  the  shrewd- 
ness of  the  foreigner. 

It  is  nearing  the  dinic  hour.  The  patients 
have  registered  and  paid  a  nominal  fee  of  three 
or  four  cents.  The  evangelist  steps  up  to  the  desk 
and  begins  to  speak.  His  subject  is  chosen 
from  a  series  of  thirty,  one  for  each  day  of  the 
month.  Those  subjects,  beginning  with  "  There 
is  One  God,"  cover  the  salient  points  of  the 
plan  of  salvation.  Most  of  them  dwell  upon  the 
life  and  ministry  of  our  Lord  while  on  earth. 
Month  by  month  the  patients  are  ever  changing 
but  these  are  subjects  that  must  be  preached  to 
them  all.  In  the  simplest  manner  the  evangelist 
seeks  to  impress  his  motley  audience  with  the 
connection  between  the  mission  dispensary  and 
God  who  *'  so  loved  the  world."  Oh,  it  has  to 
be  simple.  If  one  would  learn  how  to  speak  to 
little  children  let  him  first  practice  on  a  disease- 
stricken  Chinese  audience. 

The  doctor  comes  in  to  obtain  a  general  view 
of  the  day's  patients.  A  beggar  presses  his  way 
through  the  crowd  and,  falling  down  upon  his 
knees,  bumps  his  head  upon  the  bare  bricks  of 
the  waiting-room  floor. 

"  Foreign  official,  I  am  a  poor  beggar  and 
have  no  money.  My  little  boy  has  been  sick  a 
longtime.  Will  you  not,  for  merit's  sake,  'do 
good  deeds  '  and  heal  my  boy  ?  " 

He  pushes  forward  a  little  fellow,  pale  and 


Worshipping    at    the    Confucian    Temple    by    successful 
candidates. 


^Mission  Hospital  at  Lu  Cheo  Fu.  Anhwui  Province.  China. 
Dr.  Buchart,  who  has  this  hospital  in  charge,  treats  from 
one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  nfty  patients  a  day. 


A  DAY  IN  THE  DISPENSARY  25 

anemic.  Malaria  has  been  shaking  the  poor  lit- 
tle form  to  pieces.  His  lips  are  blue.  The  wasted 
limbs  can  scarcely  support  the  distended  abdomen. 

As  we  give  him  the  medicine  and  carefully  in- 
struct him  as  to  the  method  of  taking  it,  we 
gently  tell  the  father  of  the  One  who  used  to  heal 
by  a  touch  such  little  ones  as  this  boy.  We  tell 
him  that  by  reason  of  Christ  having  laid  up  merit 
for  us  by  His  death  on  the  cross,  we  no  longer 
need  to  *'do  good  deeds''  for  ourselves.  We 
minister  to  the  sick  because  He  saw  how  men 
suflFer  and  die  in  anguish.  Because  of  His  pity 
for  such.  He  asked  us  to  come  to  the  sick  among 
the  Chinese  and  minister  to  them  for  Him. 

The  rest  of  the  patients  and  their  friends  have 
crowded  around  as  we  have  been  speaking  and 
begin  to  press  forward  their  claims.  Ulcered 
limbs,  swollen  jaws,  fevered  babies  and  emaciated 
forms  are  brought  to  our  attention.  Every 
patient  is  accompanied  by  one  or  more  members 
of  his  family  who  join  in  the  general  clamor. 
So  we  step  inside  and  the  doorkeeper,  at  signal, 
admits  them  group  by  group.  A  large  per 
cent,  of  the  patients  are  afflicted  with  some  form 
of  sepsis,  brought  on  by  dirt  and  neglect.  Could 
they  have  known  and  observed  the  simple  law  of 
cleanliness,  one  half  of  them  would  never  have 
needed  to  come  near  the  doctor.  Cleansing 
must  be  the  first  step  in  the  healing  process.  It 
is  likewise  the  last  step.     The  lance,  the  electric 


26     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

battery,  the  dusting  powders,  the  ointments,  the 
dressings,  are  all  adjuncts  to  the  one  main 
remedy  of  cleanliness. 

Here  is  a  man  who  has  suffered  for  years  with 
a  large  ulcer  on  his  leg.  If  he  will  come  steadily 
for  a  month,  or  better  still,  remain  for  a  time  in 
the  hospital,  his  long  standing  trouble  will  be 
cured.  The  next  man  has  spent  money  and  time 
on  Chinese  doctors  but  has  grown  steadily 
worse.  He  came  to  us  a  week  ago.  Now  one 
need  but  look  into  his  face  to  see  that  he  is  being 
healed.  He  pours  out  his  thanks  every  time  an 
opportunity  affords. 

This  woman,  nursing  her  swollen  face,  catches 
her  first  glimpse  of  a  pair  of  dental  forceps.  The 
Chinese  have  no  such  surgical  instrument.  Their 
only  relief  for  toothache,  or  neuralgia,  or  rheuma- 
tism, or  any  other  form  of  that  terrible  malady 
called  Pain,  is  opium.  To  opium  they  flee  sooner 
or  later,  until  thousands  upon  thousands  are 
added  to  the  list  of  victims  of  this  habit,  all  because 
of  Pain.  Very  soon  this  woman  is  going  out  of 
the  door  with  that  offending  molar  in  her  hands. 
She  shows  it  to  her  friends  who  gather  around  her 
outside.  She  tells  them  how  easy  the  foreign 
doctor  pulled  it  and  how  the  pain  is  already  gone. 
When  they  fall  under  the  bondage  of  this  same 
tyrant,  they  will  know  where  to  come  for  quick 
relief.  The  extraction  of  that  tooth  has  saved 
another  victim  from  the  opium  habit. 


A  DAY  IN  THE  DISPENSARY  27 

An  old  man  walks  slowly  into  the  waiting- 
room.  He  is  a  Christian.  But  a  short  time  ago 
his  sons  brought  him  to  the  hospital.  He  was 
suffering  with  an  abscess  of  the  liver.  For  days 
his  life  hung  in  the  balance.  Now  he  can  walk 
about.  He  greets  every  one  with  a  smile  of 
gladness.  As  we  minister  to  the  other  patients, 
we  hear  him  among  the  waiting  ones,  telling 
how  good  God  has  been  to  him.  He  will  do  as 
much  good  as  a  gifted  evangelist,  for  has  he  not 
been  sick  and  is  now  almost  well  ?  He  is  show- 
ing the  patients  a  **  sample  "  of  what  God  is  do- 
ing through  the  medical  missionary. 

A  woman  and  a  little  child  come  in  together. 
They  are  groping  their  way  and  peering  out  of 
their  dim  eyes  to  locate  the  doctor.  Both  are 
blinded  by  opaque  scars  on  their  eyes,  the  result 
of  chronic  ulceration.  Dirt  was  the  primary 
cause.  It  is  hard  to  tell  them  that  their  cases  are 
hopeless.  Had  they  come  earlier  they  might 
have  been  helped,  but  was  there  a  doctor  and  a 
dispensary  there  when  the  trouble  began  ?  An 
old  lady,  also  blind,  follows  them.  There  is  some 
hope  for  her.  If  she  will  submit  to  a  surgical 
operation  and  have  those  cataracts  removed  from 
her  eyes  she  can  see  once  more.  A  man  with 
reddened  eyeballs  is  the  next  patient.  Dirt  is 
the  primary  factor  in  this  case,  too.  Chronic  in- 
flammation has  scarred  the  inner  surface  of  the 
eyelids  until  the  eyelash  has  been  drawn  in  and 


28     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

now  mechanically  irritates  the  eye.  If  he  does 
not  allow  the  surgeon  to  remedy  the  condition, 
he,  too,  will  soon  be  blind. 

Another  group  enters  the  gate  of  the  hospital 
yard  carrying  a  woman  on  a  rude  litter.  A 
crowd  gather  about  the  new  arrival  as  her 
bearers  place  the  litter  under  the  shadow  of  the 
veranda.  We  join  the  crowd.  Her  twitching 
face,  spasms  over  her  entire  body  tell  us  she  is 
in  the  extreme  stages  of  hydrophobia. 

"  Where  did  the  dog  bite  her  ?  "  asks  one  of  the 
assistants. 

"  Oh,  the  dog  did  not  bite  her  flesh.  He  just 
tore  her  clothing." 

Can  we  bluntly  tell  them  that  the  woman  has 
positively  no  real  hydrophobia,  that  she  is 
simply  suffering  from  fear?  Would  that  we 
might  be  able  to  do  so  and  thus  convince  the 
patient  of  her  error.  The  Chinese  believe  that 
even  though  only  the  clothing  is  torn  the  virus  is 
imparted  to  the  party  attacked.  Do  what  we 
can,  we  cannot  turn  back  the  flood  of  error  which 
has  carried  this  woman  into  the  last  stages  of 
this  dread  condition.  She  is  too  far  gone.  We 
turn  away  with  a  heavy  heart  to  attend  to  the 
needs  of  other  patients.  There  are  some  things 
the  missionary  doctor  cannot  do.  A  few  days 
later  we  are  told  that  the  woman  is  dead. 

Who  is  next?  Some  friends  lead  us  to  a 
woman  sitting  in  the  corner  of  the  waiting-room. 


A  DAY  IN  THE  DISPENSARY  29 

Anxiety  is  expressed  in  her  countenance.  Her 
face  is  elongated.  She  seems  in  a  pitiable 
plight. 

''What  is  the  matter?" 

She  tries  to  speak  but  her  utterance  is  indis- 
tinct and  her  friends  answer  for  her.  "  She  was 
sitting  outside  the  door  the  other  evening  talking. 
She  yawned  as  we  often  do  when  sleepy.  Some- 
thing caught  and  she  has  been  unable  to  close 
her  mouth  since.  She  cannot  eat  or  talk  and  it 
aches  constantly  unless  we  give  her  an  opiate." 

She  has  dislocated  her  lower  jaw.  The  med- 
ical assistant  slips  his  thumbs  into  her  mouth, 
presses  down  on  the  lower  teeth,  the  jaw  slips 
into  place  and  the  look  on  that  woman's  face  is 
worth  going  across  the  ocean  to  see.  One 
woman  came  to  the  dispensary  who  had  been  in 
such  a  condition  for  six  months.  The  old  point 
of  articulation  had  been  destroyed  by  disuse  and 
the  jaw  had  become  fixed  in  its  new  position. 
Nothing  but  a  severe  operation  could  relieve  her 
and  the  means  were  not  at  hand  for  performing 
it.  She  would  have  to  pass  through  life  with 
both  jaws  immovable  and  all  use  of  her  teeth 
lost.  Could  she  have  come  to  us  when  the  acci- 
dent occurred  she  could  easily  have  been  cured. 

A  boy  comes  in  with  his  fingers  spread  apart 
and  his  arms  held  away  from  contact  with  his 
body.  Scabies  is  another  disease  which  flour- 
ishes where  bathing  facilities  are  lacking.     The 


30     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

Chinese  have  no  sulphur  to  cure  and  no  knowl- 
edge of  how  to  escape  contracting  the  disease. 
In  America  it  is  a  source  of  humiliation  to  the 
patient  and  a  source  of  amusement  to  his  friends. 
In  China  it  is  a  source  of  death.  The  disease, 
unchecked,  spreads  over  the  body,  setting  up 
abscesses  by  its  poison  and  the  patient  may  die 
of  sepsis.  The  giving  of  a  little  sulphur  oint- 
ment in  China  may  mean  the  saving  of  a  life. 

Another  group  is  calling  for  assistance.  They 
are  better  clothed  than  the  ordinary  and  their 
trouble  has  arisen  by  reason  of  their  superior 
condition.  One  of  their  number  has  been  under 
the  treatment  of  a  Chinese  physician.  The  lat- 
ter has  used  the  usual  method  of  acupuncture. 
Unfortunately  for  the  Chinese  doctor, — and  the 
patient,  the  needle  has  been  broken  off  just  be- 
neath the  skin.  He  could  thrust  in  the  needle, 
but  to  extract  the  broken  piece  is  beyond  his 
power.  So  in  their  desperation  and  helplessness 
they  have  been  driven  to  the  foreign  doctor. 
The  broken  end  of  the  needle  can  be  felt  just  be- 
neath the  skin.  We  inject  a  local  anesthetic  and 
soon  present  the  patient  and  his  friends  the  lost 
portion  of  the  needle.  Since  they  are  rich 
enough  to  call  a  Chinese  physician  we  are  per- 
fectly willing  to  accept  a  proper  fee  for  our  serv- 
ices. Why  should  we  not  ?  Have  we  not  done 
what  a  Chinese  physician  was  unable  to  do  ? 

The  Chinese  are  afflicted  with  such  a  variety 


A  DAY  IN  THE  DISPENSARY  31 

of  digestive  troubles.  That  they  all  drink  hot 
tea  and  no  cold  water  and  that  they  cook  nearly 
all  the  food  used  is  doubtless  the  reason  they  are 
not  swept  off  the  face  of  the  earth  by  pestilence. 
Each  summer  vast  numbers  of  little  children  die 
as  the  result  of  injudicious  eating  and  drinking. 
A  hungry  stomach  will  accept  an  article  for  food 
that  a  full  one  would  reject  in  disgust.  Rice  is 
the  principal  food  in  Central  China.  Vegetables, 
meats,  fish,  etc.,  are  treated  as  relishes.  That 
which  is  cast  away  by  the  wealthier  becomes  food 
for  the  poorer  classes.  *'  All  is  fish  that  comes 
to  the  Chinaman's  net."  Be  the  animal  freshly 
butchered  or  one  that  has  died  of  disease,  there 
is  always  some  one  ready  for  the  feast,  some  one 
who  will  claim  any  part  not  desired  by  others 
who  might  have  first  claim  and  choice. 

Thus  all  forms  of  digestive  disturbances,  from 
mere  irritation  to  violent  ptomaine  poisoning, 
appear  at  the  door  of  the  dispensary.  One  says 
he  has  a  ball  in  his  stomach  ;  another,  a  worm  ; 
a  third  cannot  swallow  ;  the  stomach  of  a  fourth 
is  swollen  and  tense ;  and  a  fifth  case  may  even 
claim  to  have  a  turtle  wiggling  around  inside. 
Such  may  be  their  description  of  their  cases  but 
to  the  doctor  falls  the  difficult  task  of  ascertain- 
ing what  these  patients  really  mean  and  then 
finding  the  remedial  agent  which  will  heal  or  re- 
lieve. When  a  man  is  starving  to  death  it  is  not 
medicine  which  he  needs. 


32     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

Patients  suffering  from  many  other  varieties  of 
troubles  stray  in.  There  are  many  who  can  be 
cured  only  by  long  and  careful  treatment.  There 
are  many  who  cannot  command  the  proper  en- 
vironment for  healing.  Some  cannot  be  cured 
at  all.  Daily  is  the  heart  of  the  doctor  wrung 
within  him.  The  surgeon  must  follow  a  skillful 
operation  with  an  all-night  vigil  before  he  can 
bring  some  patient  up  from  the  jaws  of  death. 
An  American  physician  once  said,  "  We  have  so 
many  hopeless  cases,  so  many  pitiful  ones,  that 
if  it  were  not  for  the  cases  which  we  can  and  do 
relieve,  we  could  well  wish  we  had  never  seen 
the  inside  of  a  medical  college." 

The  cases  which  the  missionary  doctor  does 
heal  and  relieve  are  the  ones  which  hold  him  to 
his  post.  Standing  daily  in  the  midst  of  suffer- 
ing humanity,  cooling  fevered  brows  and  com- 
forting troubled  hearts,  the  doctor  finds  his  suffi- 
cient joy.  If  he  were  not  there  they  would  have 
no  one  else  to  whom  they  might  turn  for  aid. 
Having  once  stood  in  that  place  of  healing,  the 
doctor  could  not  leave  them  if  he  would. 

Some  day  the  doctor  will  be  travelling  over 
the  country  far  away  from  that  Chinese  city  he 
calls  "  home."  He  will  be  entering  some  village 
whose  attitude  is  very  hostile  to  the  foreigner. 
Some  one  will  step  out  from  that  mob  and  lead 
the  doctor  into  his  home.  He  will  show  the 
doctor  such  honour  as  he  would  to  a  prince. 


A  DAY  IN  THE  DISPENSARY  33 

Then  he  will  turn  to  the  hostile  crowd  and  tell 
them  how  when  he  was  sick  and  in  trouble,  this 
doctor  came  to  him,  took  him  into  his  hospital 
and  healed  him.  Then  the  doctor  will  feel  a  little 
of  that  thrill  of  joy  which  must  come  to  him  who 
hears  the  words,  "  Well  done,  thou  good  and 
faithful  servant.  Enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thv 
Lord.''  ^  ^  ^ 


Ill 

STORIES  OF  THE  HOSPITAL 

AN  old  man  and  his  wife  who  had  been  re- 
duced to  beggary  by  disease  were  found 
sitting  at  the  gate  of  our  medical  com- 
pound. The  woman,  while  a  girl,  had  attracted 
the  attention  of  a  rich  man  by  her  beauty  and  had 
been  taken  by  him  as  a  secondary  wife.  From 
him  she  contracted  disease  which  destroyed  her 
beauty  and,  to  a  large  extent,  shut  out  the  world 
from  her.  Her  hearing  was  gone,  articulation  of 
speech  was  lost,  one  eye  was  destroyed  and  her 
face  was  left  scarred  and  deformed.  The  rich 
man  had  lost  all  interest  in  her  and  sent  her  back 
to  her  parents. 

A  few  years  later  this  old  man,  then  a  strong, 
active  stone-mason,  came  through  the  town  where 
her  parents  lived.  He  wanted  a  wife  but  had  little 
money  to  spend.  He  could  get  her  cheap  and 
so  took  her  for  his  wife.  Her  disease  was  trans- 
mitted to  him  ;  he  fell  sick  and  his  strength  was 
taken  away.  For  several  years  they  had  begged 
from  door  to  door. 

It  took  them  eight  days  to  walk  the  twenty- 
five  miles  to  our  hospital.     They  sat  at  our  gate 

34 


STORIES  OF  THE  HOSPITAL  35 

begging,  not  for  money,  but  for  healing.  They 
had  no  money  to  pay  for  treatment  or  for  food 
while  being  treated.  It  costs  only  one  dollar  a 
month  to  board  the  ordinary  patient,  so  we  de- 
cided to  reward  the  faith  that  had  brought  them 
to  us.  The  woman  was  beyond  the  reach  of 
medicine  but  able  to  help  herself.  We  could  not 
give  back  to  her  lost  hearing  or  lost  tissue.  So 
we  turned  our  attention  to  her  lamed  and  weak- 
ened husband.  Slowly  his  strength  came  back 
and  his  sores  were  healed. 

He  would  sit  in  the  chapel  at  the  morning 
worship,  but  he  seemed  so  ignorant  that  it  did 
not  seem  possible  for  him  to  comprehend  much 
of  the  Gospel  story.  On  Sundays  he  would  hob- 
ble over  to  the  church  services.  One  day  he  asked 
for  baptism.  Of  course  we  were  surprised.  But 
when  we  questioned  him  we  found  that  while  he 
could  not  repeat  the  Scriptures  or  read  them,  yet 
the  essence  of  the  Gospel  had  reached  his  heart 
and  he  knew  in  whom  he  was  believing.  He  had 
comprehended  the  spirit  of  Christ  and  henceforth 
became  His  follower. 

When  he  was  nearly  well  again,  he  went  out 
to  one  of  the  old  buildings  over  the  city  gates,  a 
place  given  over  to  beggars.  There  he  parti- 
tioned off  a  corner  and  set  up  a  litde  home.  He 
returned  to  his  old  trade  and  began  to  earn  his 
living  once  more. 

One  day  we  had  some  work  needing  the  serv- 


36     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

ices  of  a  common  labourer  and  called  him  to  do 
it.  He  worked  away  diligently  for  a  week.  At 
the  end  of  the  time  we  brought  the  cash  to  pay 
him  and  poured  it  into  his  hands.  He  looked 
down  at  it  and  up  at  us  with  a  troubled  expression. 

*'  Doctor,  I  do  not  like  to  take  this  money,  for 
I  feel  that  to  take  it  is  sinning  against  you, — or 
God,  I  do  not  know  which." 

It  was  his  pay.  He  had  done  faithful  work. 
Why  should  he  not  feel  right  about  taking  it  ? 
He  was  a  poor  man  and  lived  by  the  labour  of 
his  hands.     He  could  not  live  without  wages. 

**  Doctor,"  he  said  again,  ''  I  came  here  four 
years  ago,  a  broken-down,  lame  beggar.  You 
healed  me  and  gave  me  two  good  legs,  so  that  I 
can  work  again  like  any  other  man.  It  was  here 
that  I  learned  about  my  Saviour  and  began  to 
follow  Him.  All  that  I  have  and  hope  to  have, 
has  come  through  your  ministries  to  me.  Now, 
to  take  pay  for  this  little  amount  of  work,  which 
I  would  gladly  do  to  show  my  appreciation  for 
what  you  have  done  for  me, — it  does  not  seem 
right.  I  feel  that  I  am  doing  wrong  to  take  it." 
Who  would  want  to  say  that  this  man  had  not 
comprehended  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel  ? 

A  poor  farmer  ran  a  thorn  into  his  heel.  The 
entire  heel  became  inflamed.  Gangrene  set  in 
and  the  flesh  sloughed  off.  In  this  condition  he 
entered  the  "  beggars'  ward  "  of  the  hospital  in 
Nanking.     He  stayed  there  for  some  months  and 


STORIES  OF  THE  HOSPITAL  37 

the  wound  slowly  healed.  Then  he  went  out  and 
became  a  beggar  on  the  street.  The  foot  be- 
came worse  and  he  came  back  to  the  hospital. 
In  his  leisure  time  he  picked  up  copies  of  the 
Gospels  and  began  learning  to  read.  In  a  few 
months  he  was  able  to  read  large  parts  of  the 
New  Testament.  He  asked  for  baptism  and  after 
a  proper  length  of  time  in  which  he  showed  his 
sincerity,  he  was  admitted  to  church  membership. 

He  began  propagating  the  Gospel  among  the 
other  patients  in  the  beggars'  ward.  In  a  short 
time  he  found  a  welcome  at  the  bedside  of  other 
patients.  As  a  direct  result  of  his  work  in  the 
hospital,  not  less  than  seventy  people  were  bap- 
tized. 

In  the  northern  part  of  Kiang-su  province  a 
missionary,  while  itinerating  through  a  portion  of 
the  country  hitherto  unvisited  by  foreigners,  was 
attacked  by  a  mob  who  pelted  him  with  mud  and 
brickbats.  He  hurried  along  the  street  looking 
for  a  way  of  escape.  A  well-dressed  Chinaman, 
who  was  standing  at  the  door  of  a  fine  native 
house,  saw  him  coming  around  the  corner  and, 
opening  the  door  of  the  house,  pulled  him  inside 
and  shut  the  door  upon  the  rabble. 

The  Chinaman  apologized  for  the  boys  in  true 
oriental  style  and  asked  the  missionary  if  he  would 
be  willing  to  tell  him  and  his  friends  about  the 
"  foreigners'  Gospel."  As  "long  as  he  could  stay 
in  the  place  the  missionary  was  royally  entertained 


38     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

and  kept  busy  preaching  to  the  host  and  his 
friends.  A  congregation  of  believers  in  that  city 
is  the  result. 

When  the  missionary  asked  his  host  the  reason 
for  thus  befriending  him  and  requesting  the  Gos- 
pel to  be  preached  in  his  home,  the  Chinaman 
told  the  following  story.  Some  years  before,  he 
had  been  in  Shanghai  on  business.  He  fell  sick 
and  spent  all  his  money.  His  landlord  was  about 
to  turn  him  into  the  street  when,  through  the  in- 
tervention of  friends,  he  was  taken  to  Dr.  Boone's 
hospital.  The  tender,  sympathetic  attention  there 
received  led  him  to  listen  to  the  Gospel.  When 
he  returned  to  his  home  he  had  carried  away  a 
desire  to  know  more  of  this  "  heavenly  doctrine," 
a  desire  he  had  treasured  for  twelve  years  with 
the  above  result. 

Late  one  afternoon  Dr.  Macklin  and  A.  E.  Cory, 
two  missionaries  from  Nanking,  entered  a  market 
town,  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  north  of  their 
home  station.  Tired  with  their  long  day's  ride 
they  dismounted  and  led  their  horses  up  the  street 
looking  for  an  inn  where  they  might  spend  the 
night.  No  friendly  innkeeper  asked  them  to  come 
in.  All  of  their  requests  for  lodging  were  met 
with  a  cold  "  no  room."  It  was  too  late  to  ride 
on  to  the  next  village,  and  they  might  receive  no 
better  treatment  if  they  did.   What  should  they  do  ? 

Mr.  Cory  held  the  horses  while  the  doctor 
stepped  across  the  street  to  try  his  tact  upon  one 


STORIES  OF  THE  HOSPITAL  39 

of  the  obdurate  innkeepers.  A  well-dressed 
Chinese  came  leisurely  along  the  street,  picking 
his  way  over  the  rough  cobblestones.  At  the 
sight  of  the  usual  crowd  gathered  around  the 
horses  he  looked  up  and  discovered  the  foreigner 
in  the  midst. 

"  Why,  you  are  a  foreigner,"  he  exclaimed  in 
astonishment. 

*^  You  are  not  wrong,"  wearily  answered  the 
missionary  in  Chinese  idiom. 

"Where  are  you  from?"  He  seemed  inter- 
ested. 

**  Nanking."  The  missionary  did  not  feel  like 
talking.  He  wondered  if  the  man  would  ask  him 
if  his  saddle  was  made  of  leather,  and  what  his 
shoes  cost,  and  why  he  wore  collars,  and  if  they 
had  the  same  sun  and  moon  in  America.  They 
usually  asked  such  foolish  questions  as  these. 

*'  Nanking ! "  was  his  next  exclamation.  "  Do 
you  know  Dr.  Macklin  ?  " 

"There  he  is  over  across  the  street." 

The  Chinaman  walked  across  the  street,  got 
down  on  his  knees  before  the  astonished  doctor 
and  knocked  his  head  on  the  ground  in  the  true 
Chinese  kotow.  What  was  the  matter?  Four 
years  ago  he  had  taken  his  sick  son  to  the  doctor's 
hospital  at  Nanking  where  he  was  cured  of  his 
disease.  The  man  had  never  forgotten  the  kind- 
ness there  received.  This  was  the  first  oppor- 
tunity he  had  had  to  express  his  appreciation.    He 


40     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

took  the  missionaries  to  his  own  home  and  set  be- 
fore them  the  best  that  could  be  found  in  the  town. 
His  house  was  turned  temporarily  into  a  speaking 
hall  and  he  himself  reinforced  the  words  of  the 
missionaries  by  telling  his  fellow  townsmen  of 
what  he  had  received  and  learned  while  at  Nan- 
king in  the  doctor's  hospital. 

A  little  fellow  with  hip  joint  disease,  was  brought 
to  our  hospital  by  his  relatives.  His  father  was 
dead  and  his  mother  had  remarried  and  moved  to 
a  distant  place.  His  trouble  being  of  tubercular 
origin,  the  prognosis  at  best  was  doubtful.  Should 
he  recover  he  must  still  be  a  cripple  for  life.  His 
mother  was  far  away  and  his  relatives  had  little 
love  to  waste  upon  him.  His  was  a  lonely,  hope- 
less existence. 

In  the  hospital  his  leg  was  daily  dressed  with 
tender  care.  The  assistants  watched  over  him. 
We  fed  him  milk  and  gave  him  flowers.  Simple 
books  that  he  could  read  and  bright  pictures 
brought  him  daily  pleasure.  Such  a  case,  for 
both  patient  and  doctor,  is  a  long  and  weary  fight. 
One  day,  when  he  was  seeming  to  grow  steadily 
worse  with  little  hope  of  ultimate  recovery,  we 
asked  him,  should  he  not  recover,  whether  he 
would  prefer  going  back  to  the  home  of  his  rela- 
tives or  stay  with  us  in  the  hospital. 

"I  know,"  he  said,  "that  my  relatives  could 
not  and  would  not  care  for  me  as  you  treat  me 
here.     But  more  than  that,  Mr.  Tsu  (the  medical 


STORIES  OF  THE  HOSPITAL  41 

assistant)  has  been  teaching  me  about  Jesus  Christ 
and  I  would  like  to  learn  more  about  Him." 

Thus  another  little  life  has  had  his  burden 
lightened  by  the  ministry  of  the  Christian  hospital. 
In  his  body  has  been  worked  out  the  contrast  be- 
tween heathen  indifTerence  towards,  and  Christian 
sympathy  for,  the  suffering  and  neglected  little 
ones. 

After  the  missionary  doctor  has  established  a 
reputation  among  the  Chinese  as  a  successful 
operator,  he  finds  it  necessary  to  be  careful  as  to 
what  procedure  he  recommends  a  patient.  Those 
who  have  come  under  the  influence  of  his  minis- 
try learn  to  trust  him  implicitly.  Has  he  not 
saved  their  lives  and  the  lives  of  their  relatives 
when  there  was  none  other  recourse  ?  With  the 
utmost  faith  in  him  they  lie  down  upon  the  table 
for  an  operation  that  may  mean  life  or  death. 

One  old  lady  came  to  Dr.  Hart  of  Wuhu.  She 
came  only  as  a  last  resort  for  she  had  no  regard 
for  foreigners  or  their  religion.  Cancer  of  the 
breast  was  rapidly  carrying  her  towards  her  grave. 
The  operation  was  a  successful  one.  While  she 
lay  convalescing  in  the  hospital,  she  had  time  to 
see  and  time  to  think  and  hear.  She  gave  herself 
to  Christ  and  went  back  to  her  distant  home  a 
Christian. 

Five  years  later  she  came  again.  The  same 
trouble  in  the  form  of  an  axillary  tumour  had 
developed.     With  perfect  confidence  she  made 


42     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

the  second  journey  to  the  hospital  and  placed 
herself  under  the  doctor  whom  she  probably 
loved  next  to  her  Saviour. 

On  the  morning  of  the  operation  she  walked 
into  the  room  with  a  bright  smile  and  lay  down 
to  sleep  upon  the  table.  For  three  hours  the 
doctor  worked  among  a  most  intricate  network 
of  blood-vessels  and  nerves  to  reach  the  root  of 
the  tumour.  Her  life  hung  by  a  tiny  thread.  But 
again  strength  was  granted  her  and  she  went 
home  with  another  lease  of  life.  Is  it  any  won- 
der that  the  Chinese,  under  such  conditions,  come 
to  almost  worship  the  missionary  doctor  ? 

Yet  he  cannot  save  all  who  come.  So  long 
has  prejudice  against  foreign  innovations  been 
rooted  in  the  hearts  of  the  Chinese  that  only  ter- 
rible pain  or  hastening  dissolution  of  the  body 
will  drive  them  to  the  doctor's  door.  There  are 
cases  of  disease  which  have  been  neglected  so 
long  that  the  body  has  become  deformed,  or  new 
growths  implanted,  or  poison  has  been  dissem- 
inated through  the  system.  The  patient  has 
come  perhaps  a  hundred  miles  of  weary  road 
hoping  that  the  missionary  doctor  might  bring 
life  and  strength  back  to  his  broken  body.  It  is 
hard  under  such  conditions  to  shake  the  head  and 
render  a  hopeless  verdict. 

And  still,  even  in  such  instances,  the  hospital 
has  its  influence.  There  will  gather  around 
them  in  the  hospital  enclosure,  the  patients  who 


STORIES  OF  THE  HOSPITAL  43 

are  staying  in  the  hospital.  These  will  tell  the 
disappointed  one  of  the  wonderful  cures  the 
doctor  is  performing  in  other  kinds  of  diseases. 
They  will  also  tell  of  the  tenderness  and  sympathy 
with  which  they  are  all  being  treated.  And  that 
patient  will  go  back  to  his  distant  home  with  a 
dim  vision  of  a  Gospel  of  hope  and  love.  Per- 
haps to  his  friends,  gathering  about  him  in  the 
eventide,  he  will  tell  of  the  lame  who  have 
walked,  of  the  blind  that  have  been  made  to  see, 
of  the  opium  sot  who  has  come  away  clean  and 
that  to  all  who  visit  that  hospital  there  is  pointed 
out  a  way  whereby  men  may  escape  eternal  death. 
He  will  tell,  perhaps  in  a  distorted  way,  of  a 
heavenly  Official,  who  loves  men  and  has  sent  a 
"Jesus,"  who  died  that  men  might  live;  and  how 
these  foreigners  say  that  they  are  doing  this 
work  not  for  merit's  sake  but  because  this  same 
Jesus  has  asked  them  to  help  the  suffering  ones 
in  China.  Only  God  knows  how  far  extends  the 
power  of  His  Gospel  through  the  healing  agency 
of  the  mission  hospital. 


IV 

IN  THE  OPIUM  REFUGE 

DOWN  in  South  China  near  Foochow  is 
a  village  of  a  thousand  inhabitants. 
Missionaries  have  preached  in  that  vil- 
lage for  many  years  with  scant  results.  Not 
long  ago  four  opium  smokers  went  down  to  Dr. 
Wilkinson's  hospital  at  Foochow  and  were  cured 
of  the  habit.  One  of  them  secreted  some  of  the 
anti-opium  pills  given  him  at  the  hospital  and 
when  he  reached  home  gave  them  to  his  wife 
and  cured  her  of  opium  smoking  also.  All  of 
them  straightened  up,  regained  their  former 
elasticity  and  looked  like  new  men. 

A  reformed  smoker  had  up  to  this  time  never 
been  seen  in  that  village.  The  head  men  called 
a  council,  made  up  a  purse  of  fifty  dollars  and 
through  the  local  Christians,  sent  down  a  petition 
to  Dr.  Wilkinson.  With  the  petition  they  sent  a 
committee  and  a  sedan  chair.  The  doctor  was 
invited  to  bring  up  to  the  village  such  retinue 
and  remedial  agents  as  should  be  necessary. 
The  head  men  would  agree  to  gather  into  their 
largest  ancestral  hall  all  the  opium  smokers  of 
the  village  and  give  all  possible  aid  to  the  doctor 

44 


IN  THE  OPIUM  REFUGE  45 

in   breaking   these   of   their   habit   and  driving 
opium  out  of  the  village. 

Dr.  Wilkinson  consented  to  the  agreement  and 
found  upon  arrival  a  group  of  eighty  men  and 
nine  women  awaiting  his  ministrations.  The  in- 
fluential men  in  the  place  took  upon  themselves 
the  duty  of  aids  to  the  doctor  and  right  faithfully 
they  carried  out  his  orders.  Every  house  and 
store  was  thrown  open  to  his  search.  By  their 
request  he  confiscated  all  opium  and  opium  ac- 
cessories found.  They  sent  a  petition  to  their 
district  magistrate  and  secured  an  edict  forever 
prohibiting  the  sale  or  smoking  of  opium  in  the 
village.  In  every  way  they  cooperated  with  the 
doctor  and  held  up  his  hands. 

Two  of  the  patients  scaled  the  walls  of  the  an- 
cestral hall  and  banished  themselves  from  the 
village.  One  feeble  old  man,  who  had  used  the 
drug  for  thirty-five  years,  was  too  feeble  to  en- 
dure the  strain  but  he  was  tenderly  nursed 
through  the  closing  days  of  his  life  and  in  a  few 
weeks  passed  away.  With  his  death  there  passed 
out  of  the  town  the  last  opium  smoker. 

The  remainder  of  the  patients  were  taken 
through  the  three  weeks  allotted  for  the  work. 
Those  were  strenuous  days.  Sometimes  a  patient 
would  sullenly  refuse  the  medicine.  Upon  the 
person  of  another  would  be  found  secreted  pills 
of  opium.  Some  other  inhabitant  of  the  town 
would  be  located  who  had  taken  the  drug  so 


46     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

covertly  that  he  had  escaped  the  vigilance  of  his 
own  townsmen.  Day  would  be  turned  into 
night  and  night  into  day  by  the  calls  and  moans 
of  the  distressed  patients,  now  awakening  from 
their  long  "  opium  sleep."  Disease  had  started 
most  of  them  into  the  drug  habit  and  now,  with 
the  opium  withdrawn,  was  remanifesting  itself 
and  demanding  the  attention  of  the  doctor. 

Realizing  that  unless  a  moral  uplift  accom- 
panied the  physical  one,  the  effect  of  the  work 
would  be  largely  neutralized.  Dr.  Wilkinson 
made  the  religious  teaching  a  prominent  feature. 
Both  foreign  and  Chinese  evangelists  aided  him. 
In  the  presence  of  the  ancestral  tablets  of  thirty 
generations  in  that  great  hall,  the  saving  powder 
of  Christ  was  taught  in  daily  worship.  The 
elders  and  influential  men  of  the  village  joined  in 
these  services. 

When  the  three  weeks  were  over  and  the 
patients  released  to  return  to  their  homes,  a  great 
service  of  thanksgiving  was  held  in  the  former 
chapel.  It  was  too  small  for  the  crowds  that 
pressed  in.  It  continued  to  be  filled  at  later  serv- 
ices and  a  larger  place  was  secured.  The 
Church  had  become  a  power  in  the  town. 

Six  months  later  a  census  of  the  ex-opium 
smokers  was  taken  and  it  was  found  that  only 
one  had  returned  to  his  pipe.  Of  the  rest  for ty- 
three  had  enrolled  themselves  as  enquirers  and 
were  seeking  to  be  Christians.     The  village  was 


IN  THE  OPIUM  REFUGE  47 

clear  of  its  former  plague  and  prospering  as  it 
had  not  for  generations. 

During  the  next  few  years  in  China  this  ex- 
periment will  be  repeated  many  times.  There 
are  probably  40,000,000  opium  smokers  in  the 
empire.  The  throne  has  put  out  an  edict  that 
the  traffic  must  cease  within  the  next  ten  years. 
Opium  dens  must  close  and  farmers  must  cease 
to  grow  the  poppy.  The  campaign  has  begun 
in  many  districts  accompanied  with  great  patri- 
otic demonstrations.  Foochow  has  closed  three 
thousand  dens  on  her  streets.  Shanghai  has  put 
out  an  edict  to  accomplish  the  same  end.  The 
people  are  ready  for  the  change  and  demanding 
that  the  edict  be  carried  into  effect.  For  some 
years  medical  missionaries  have  found  the  opium 
refuge  in  constant  demand  and  many  smokers 
have  gone  out  of  the  mission  refuges  testifying 
to  the  efficacy  of  the  treatment  received. 
Through  surgical  operations  and  medical  relief 
given  the  mission  hospital  and  dispensary  has 
opened  thousands  of  homes  to  the  Gospel. 
What  a  marvellous  opportunity  is  here  pre- 
sented ! 

Chinese  physicians  have  no  means  of  coping 
with  the  terrible  evil  and  some  foreign  and  Chi- 
nese druggists  have  intensified  the  problem  by 
placing  upon  the  Chinese  market  everywhere 
an  anti-opium  pill  which  contains  morphine.  A 
smoker  has  lost  all  his  own  will-power  and  is 


48     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

helpless  in  the  bonds  of  the  habit.  Not  one  in  a 
thousand  could,  unaided,  conquer  the  craving,  if 
he  should  try.  To  the  three  hundred  medical 
missionaries  in  China  there  has  been  opened  a 
great  and  effectual  door.  Upon  their  shoulders 
will  fall  the  burden  of  this  stupendous  task  in- 
augurated by  the  government. 

The  effect  of  the  drug  upon  its  victims  is  to 
make  them  strangely  inconsistent  and  wholly  un- 
reliable. It  debases  their  moral  nature.  A  man 
comes  to  the  refuge  really  desiring  to  break  away 
from  the  curse,  yet  he  must  be  searched  for  opium 
pills  which  he  has  secreted  upon  his  person. 
Often  an  extra  payment  as  a  guarantee  of  good 
faith  is  demanded  to  compel  the  observance  of 
the  necessary  regulations.  This  is  returned  to 
the  man  when  he  leaves, — unless  he  has  left  too 
soon  by  the  short  route  of  over  the  wall  at  night. 

The  hold  of  the  drug  upon  its  victim  is  worse 
than  alcohol.  He  must  have  his  pipe  every  day 
and  two  or  three  times  every  day.  Every  day  he 
must  waste  two  or  three  hours  upon  the  opium 
couch.  He  has  to  neglect  his  business.  If  his 
profits  do  not  amount  to  a  sufficient  sum  he  must 
mortgage  or  sell  his  property  to  satisfy  his  crav- 
ing for  the  drug.  It  is  the  curse  of  market  towns 
where  most  of  the  business  is  done  on  market 
days.  These  places  have  usually  two  days  in 
every  ten  in  which  the  farmers  from  the  sur- 
rounding country  will  gather  in  to  do  their  buy- 


IN  THE  OProM  REFUGE  49 

ing  and  bartering.  The  remainder  of  the  time  is 
spent  by  the  shopkeepers  in  lounging,  gambling 
and  smoking.  The  larger  cities  are  cursed  only 
in  lesser  proportion. 

Medical  missionaries  have  followed  two  meth- 
ods in  curing  these  patients.  Those  who  have 
the  time  and  money  and  those  who  have  been 
using  large  amounts  of  the  drug,  are  treated  by 
gradually  lessening  the  amount  of  the  drug  as 
the  patient  increases  in  strength  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  hospital  treatment.  The  majority  of 
patients  treated  have  little  time  and  less  money. 
These  have  their  opium  cut  off  at  once  and  are 
only  given  doses  of  morphine  at  periods  when 
the  craving  becomes  uncontrollable.  In  the  latter 
cases  if  the  patient  has  not  been  using  excessive 
quantities  of  the  drug,  the  craving  will  disappear 
in  three  days.  The  physician  has  then  before 
him  the  problem  of  overcoming  manifestations  of 
latent  disease  which  the  drug  had  been  keeping  in 
partial  abeyance  and  the  building  up  of  a  weak- 
ened body. 

Those  first  three  days  are  days  of  agony  for 
the  patient  and  days  of  wearying  watchfulness  on 
the  part  of  the  physician  and  his  assistants.  The 
patient  has  little  control  over  himself  and  at  any 
moment  he  may  throw  discretion  to  the  winds 
and  seek  relief  by  escape  to  the  opium  den.  In- 
tense restlessness,  weakness  of  the  heart  and 
muscles,  numbness  of  the  limbs,  sleeplessness, 


50     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

rheumatic  pains,  and  an  agonizing  distress  in  the 
gastric  region,  are  some  of  the  torments  endured. 

How  to  control  the  mind  of  the  patient  is  the 
key  to  all  treatment.  The  same  drug  must  be 
prepared  in  various  forms.  Electricity,  massage, 
hot-water  bags,  sweat  baths,  appeals,  commands 
and  hypnotic  suggestion  find  their  part  in  the 
curative  process.  Flowers,  books,  pictures,  the 
gramophone,  the  stereopticon,  teaching  of  prayer, 
singing  of  hymns,  and  religious  instruction  all 
come  into  play  in  turning  the  patient's  thoughts 
away  from  self  and  to  Him  who  is  able  to  keep 
unto  the  uttermost. 

The  implanting  of  a  moral  ambition  is  an  ab- 
solute essential  to  the  complete  cure  of  a  patient. 
The  opium  dens  lining  the  streets,  the  smell  of 
opium  filling  the  air,  the  knowledge  of  the  power 
of  opium  to  relieve  pain  and  the  tempter  offering 
the  pipe  while  business  is  being  transacted,  are 
too  strong  an  allurement  to  be  resisted  by  the 
nerve  tracks  of  one  who  has  long  been  under  the 
spell  of  the  drug.  When  the  claims  of  manhood 
and  the  hopes  of  eternity  enter  into  consideration, 
the  battle  is  half  won. 

Two  young  men  came  into  our  refuge.  One 
used  an  ounce  of  the  raw  drug  daily  and  the 
other  was  consuming  six-tenths  of  an  ounce. 
Both  passed  out  of  the  hospital  cured  of  their 
craving  although  it  was  at  the  cost  of  extreme 
suffering.     Both  were  business  heads  of  their  re- 


IN  THE  OPIUM  REFUGE  51 

spective  clans  and  had  to  be  on  the  street  much 
of  their  time.  A  business  transaction  in  China 
calls  for  the  pipe  as  one  in  America  calls  for  the 
cigars  or  a  drink.  They  both  fell.  One  came 
back  twice  to  overcome  the  craving  but  it  is 
doubtful  if  either  ever  wholly  conquered. 

A  woman  was  brought  to  us  by  her  husband, — 
or  the  man  who  claimed  to  be  her  husband.  She 
had  smoked  for  a  number  of  years.  There  is  a 
looseness  in  marital  relations  among  the  peasant 
classes  that  is  not  to  be  commended.  After  she 
was  first  married  her  husband  discovered  her 
craving  for  the  drug.  She  was  too  expensive  a 
luxury  for  him  to  support  and  so  at  his  first  op- 
portunity he  turned  her  over  to  another  man  for 
a  small  sum  of  money.  This  operation  had  been 
repeated  until  she  had  been  the  wife  of  nine  men. 
The  last  one  had  heard  of  the  opium  refuge  and 
conceived  the  idea  of  compelling  her  to  break 
the  habit. 

He  left  one  of  his  daughters-in-law  to  care  for 
the  woman,  while  she  remained  under  our  care. 
The  woman  persuaded  the  daughter-in-law  to  go 
out  secretly  and  buy  opium  for  her.  At  the  end 
of  the  allotted  time  the  husband  came  down  to 
take  his  wife  home  only  to  find  her  still  addicted 
to  the  drug.  He  persuaded  us  to  allow  her  to 
remain  in  a  little  longer  while  he  stayed  with  her 
himself.  This  time  the  cure  was  effective.  But 
with  no  moral  influence  controlling  her,  such  a 


52     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

woman  will  return  to  her  pipe  when  the  restrain- 
ing watchfulness  of  her  husband  is  relaxed. 

Contrast  with  these  the  following  cases.  A 
young  Chinese  had  listened  to  the  Gospel  and 
changed  his  life  until  nothing  but  his  opium 
craving  stood  between  him  and  his  fully  obeying 
Christ.  He  plead  with  the  missionary  to  aid  him 
in  overcoming  the  habit.  The  missionary  had 
no  experience  in  such  a  line  of  work  and  hesitated 
about  attempting  the  task.  The  Chinese  said 
that  if  the  missionary  would  just  give  him  a  room 
and  lock  him  in  it,  he  would  willingly  make  him- 
self a  prisoner  in  order  to  overcome  the  craving 
and  become  a  Christian.  It  was  finally  done. 
Food  and  drink  were  furnished  him  and  prayer 
was  daily  made  in  his  behalf.  The  young  man 
fought  the  battle  through  and  has  been  a  stead- 
fast, consistent  Christian  ever  since. 

Evangelist  Shi  Gwei-biao  of  the  Christian 
Mission  in  the  Yangtse  valley  is  a  striking  ex- 
ample of  the  power  of  Christ  to  save  and  keep  a 
man  from  the  curse  of  opium.  He  was  a  brilliant 
story-teller,  earning  large  sums  of  money  on  the 
streets  and  at  festivals.  For  twenty  years  he 
travelled  over  the  country.  He  spent  his  money 
as  fast  as  he  earned  it — all  at  the  feet  of  the  opium 
demon.  He  fell  into  complete  beggary  and  as- 
sociated with  his  fellow  kind,  living  under  bridge 
arches  and  broken  ruins. 

A  copy  of  the  Gospel  of  Mark  accidentally  fell 


IN  THE  OPIUM  EEFUGE  53 

into  his  hands.  He  used  its  stories  to  replenish 
his  stock  in  trade.  The  life  of  a  convert  to  Chris- 
tianity here  and  there  attracted  his  attention  and 
the  vitality  of  the  Gospel,  as  revealed  in  their 
lives,  drew  him  to  Christ.  Had  not  that  light 
come  to  his  soul,  his  physical  nature,  so  long  out- 
raged, would  not  have  granted  him  the  now 
twenty  years  of  life  he  has  so  nobly  spent  in  the 
service  of  the  Master. 

It  is  an  axiom  that  an  opium  smoker  cannot  be 
a  Christian.  So  the  determination  to  break  away 
from  his  pipe  was  the  natural  outcome  of  his  de- 
sire to  follow  Christ.  In  Dr.  Macklin's  hospital 
Shi  conquered  and  fell,  conquered  and  fell,  until 
the  conception  of  the  power  of  prayer  led  him  to 
his  knees  before  the  Lord  where  he  gained  his 
final  victory.  That  experience  in  the  school  of 
prayer  has  led  to  his  winning  nearly  threescore  of 
men  and  women  to  Christ. 

Heretofore  heathenism,  feeling  no  responsibil- 
ity of  brotherhood,  placed  no  barrier  in  the  way 
of  any  evil  which  might  seek  entrance  into  China. 
Opium  found  little  moral  opposition  to  its  des- 
troying progress  through  the  empire.  From  the 
buying  of  India's  crop  China  proceeded  to  the 
planting  of  her  own  poppies  until  she  made  her 
supply  of  cereals  inadequate  to  feed  her  starving 
millions. 

The  Anti-Opium  League,  an  organization  orig- 
inated   and  fostered  by  missionaries,  has  pub- 


54     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

lished  and  scattered  literature  in  Europe,  America 
and  China.  This  society  has  carried  on  a 
campaign  among  the  Chinese  which  has  finally- 
culminated  in  the  famous  Opium  Edict.  The 
leaders  of  the  people  and  the  people  themselves 
are  now  rising  up  and  demanding  its  enforce- 
ment. Opium  smoking  officials  and  others  who 
derive  profit  from  the  sale  of  the  drug,  are  its  op- 
posers.  But  every  paper  brings  accounts  of  the 
growing  sentiment  for  the  carrying  out  of  the 
edict.  The  day  is  coming  when  China  will  be  as 
free  of  opium  as  is  Japan ;  and  the  day  is  also 
coming  when  in  China  as  in  America  there  will 
be  recognized  the  responsibility  of  brotherhood. 


V 

THE  MISSIONARY  COMPOUND 

THE  term  **  compound ' '  is  applied  through- 
out the  Orient  to  any  piece  of  ground 
used  by  foreigners,  which  is  enclosed  by 
walls  and  upon  which  are  erected  buildings.  The 
term  is  supposed  to  have  been  derived  from  a 
Malayan  word  meaning  enclosure.  The  mission- 
ary compound  may  contain  buildings  for  the  mis- 
sionary's home,  kitchens,  both  foreign  and 
Chinese,  servants'  quarters,  stables,  hospital, 
school,  or  chapel,  according  to  the  needs  of  the 
work. 

The  erection  of  mission  buildings  in  a  Chinese 
city  means  permanency  of  Christian  influence  in 
that  city  and  surrounding  district.  Henceforth 
those  buildings  are  to  be  an  important  factor  in 
the  city's  history.  They  will  affect  every  interest 
in  the  government,  morals  and  religion.  They 
will  stand  as  a  silent  rebuke  to  graft,  official  in- 
justice, immorality  and  idolatry.  They  will  be- 
come synonyms  for  the  Gospel  in  healing  and 
education,  hope  and  love. 

The  boundary  wall  is  from  seven  to  nine  feet 
high.  It  gives  security,  prevents  pilfering  and 
grants  privacy.     A  Chinese  thief  will  rarely  climb 

55 


56     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

over  the  wall  of  a  foreign  compound.  If  he  can- 
not come  through  the  gate,  he  will  prefer  to  oper- 
ate elsewhere.  The  wall,  shutting  out  undesir- 
able characters,  causes  light  fingered  servants  to 
be  more  cautious  about  the  disappearance  of 
small  things.  It  makes  them  responsible  for  the 
things  in  their  charge  and  insures  a  minimum 
loss  to  the  missionary.  The  Chinese  have  a 
superabundance  of  curiosity.  Among  them- 
selves they  have  little  privacy.  When  they  have 
been  given  opportunity,  they  have  crowded  into 
the  mission  compound  and  violated  every  right 
of  privacy  which  Anglo-Saxons  hold  so  dear. 

The  boundary  wall  also  hedges  back  the  im- 
morality and  contagions  which  flourish  in  every 
heathen  city.  Outside  the  compound  vice  and 
immodesty  walk  abroad  with  shameless  publicity. 
Year  by  year  smallpox,  cholera  and  fevers  sweep 
off  the  Chinese  people.  The  missionary  home 
has  little  children  growing  up  within  its  gates. 
Those  children  have  the  same  rights  to  moral 
purity  and  protection  from  contagion  which  chil- 
dren in  Christian  lands  enjoy. 

The  compound  is  a  haven  of  rest  to  the  mis- 
sionaries. When  a  long  day  of  conflict  with 
strange  tongue  and  alien  customs  has  closed, 
tired  nature  demands  relaxation  for  mind  and 
body.  Then  this  little  oasis  in  the  great  moral 
desert  of  heathenism  becomes  a  sweet  resting 
place.     It  is  the  missionaries'  only  refuge.    There 


THE  MISSIONARY  COMPOUND         57 

with  their  little  ones,  the  father  and  mother  can 
throw  ofif  the  restraint  under  which  they  have 
been  labouring  all  day  and  find  peace. 

The  compound  walls  enclose  an  acre  of 
ground,  more  or  less.  The  home  is  placed  near 
the  centre.  The  other  buildings  are  ranged 
near  the  walls.  The  intervening  space  is  filled 
with  flowers  and  vegetable  garden,  fruit  and 
shade  trees,  grape  arbours,  lawn  tennis  and  cro- 
quet grounds.  Missionaries  endeavour  to  trans- 
plant a  counterpart  of  the  home-land  surround- 
ings into  the  heart  of  an  alien  country.  It 
makes  the  burden  of  the  work  lighter  and  bears 
a  peculiar  lesson  to  the  Chinese  people. 

The  boundaries  of  the  place  may  be  very  ir- 
regular. A  grave  may  be  near  the  edge  and 
the  wall  will  have  to  be  built  around  it.  Graves 
are  found  everywhere  in  China.  An  irrigating 
ditch  which  has  to  follow  the  undulations  of  the 
ground  may;determine  a  part  of  the  boundary.  A 
well  dug  long  ago  by  a  syndicate  of  neighbours, 
may  have  been  placed  just  on  the  line.  Being 
common  property,  the  missionary  finds  it  diffi- 
cult to  obtain  possession  of  it.  It  is  less  nerve- 
racking  to  build  an  unsightly  crooked  boundary 
wall  than  to  wait  for  the  termination  of  endless 
bargainings  and  wranglings  over  rights  and  prices. 
Brick  is  the  cheapest  and  most  enduring  build- 
ing material  obtainable.  Those  used  in  the 
boundary  wall  are  an  inch  thick  by  four  inches 


58     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

wide  and  eight  inches  long.  One  course  is  laid 
flat ;  the  next  is  laid  on  edge  with  cross  brick  for 
binding  the  wall  together.  This  makes  a  box- 
like formation  which  is  filled  with  broken  brick 
or  mud,  making  a  very  enduring  and  solid  wall. 
Such  a  wall  costs  about  three  dollars  and  a  half 
per  ten  feet,  the  contractor  furnishing  all  materials. 

The  house  is  built  of  regular  size  building 
brick.  These  cost  less  than  four  dollars  a  thou- 
sand. They  are  usually  of  an  ash  or  smoke 
colour  but  are  quite  as  solid  as  the  American 
brick.  Ningpo  carpenters  and  masons  who  have 
had  large  experience  in  the  erection  of  foreign 
buildings,  have  done  most  of  the  building  work 
in  the  Yangtse  valley.  They  make  contracts  to 
erect  the  buildings.  They  use  local  men  to  do  the 
work,  they  themselves  acting  as  overseers.  The 
missionary  is  usually  his  own  architect.  The  best 
masons  and  carpenters  will  receive  perhaps 
twenty-five  cents  a  day  while  the  common  labourer 
will  be  given  six  cents  and  his  food.  The  mis- 
sionary must  watch  over  every  brick  and  timber 
as  the  contractor  will  be  gone  much  of  the  time 
and  the  workmen  are  past  masters  in  the  art  of 
doing  work  not  according  to  the  plans  laid  down. 
Exactness  is  a  lost  art  to  them. 

The  missionary  home  with  ground  and  accom- 
panying buildings,  will  perhaps  cost  $3,000  in 
American  money.  The  plant  is  the  property  of 
the  missionary  society  and  is  built  with  the  idea 


THE  MISSIONARY  COMPOUND         59 

of  permanency.  Missionaries  may  be  changed 
from  station  to  station  as  emergencies  arise. 
They  may  have  to  return  to  their  native  land  by 
reason  of  failing  health  or  may  die,  but  the  work 
goes  on  and  some  one  else  comes  to  occupy  the 
home.  The  compound  and  the  new  church 
built  up  in  one  of  their  cities  are  the  two  perma- 
nent factors  on  the  mission  field  in  China. 

It  is  strange  how  many  servants  will  gather 
about  a  mission  home.  There  are  the  cook  and 
the  wash-boy,  the  gateman  and  the  cow-man, 
maybe  a  house  woman  and  a  mail-boy.  But 
what  are  the  missionaries  to  do  ?  The  city  has 
no  corner  grocery  or  meat  market  with  telephone 
and  delivery  wagon.  There  are  no  laundry  man, 
coal-yard,  dressmaker,  hardware  or  department 
store  as  we  know  them  in  the  home  land.  Only 
recently  has  it  been  that  interior  places  had  the 
luxury  of  the  imperial  post-office.  But  the  whole 
retinue  of  servants  do  not  demand  more  than  is 
paid  to  a  single  American  servant  and  they 
board  themselves.  The  cook  is  paid  about  four 
dollars  a  month.  The  others  vary  from  two  to 
three  dollars. 

If  a  chicken,  a  fish,  or  an  egg  is  needed,  the 
cook  must  go  out  on  the  street  and  hunt  about 
until  he  locates  some  one  who  has  the  article  to 
sell.  Many  articles  in  common  use  cannot  be 
found  ready  made  and  each  must  be  bargained 
for.     It  takes  time  to  talk  price.     Commodities 


60     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

of  which  a  quantity  is  needed,  must  be  ordered 
in  advance  and  are  delivered  a  little  at  a  time. 
It  keeps  the  cook  busy.  The  cooking  of  food  is 
the  least  of  his  troubles. 

The  wash-boy  washes  and  irons  the  clothes  (in- 
cluding the  collars  and  shirts),  cleans  the  floors 
and  windows  and  runs  errands.  The  gateman 
keeps  out  undesirable  characters,  introduces  vis- 
itors, hoes  in  the  garden  and  saws  the  wood. 
The  house  woman  aids  in  the  mending  and  sew- 
ing, does  the  chamber  work  and  w^atches  over 
the  children  in  their  ramblings. 

And  the  cow-man,  what  does  he  do?  Why 
does  a  missionary  keep  cows  ?  Why  does  he 
not  buy  milk  of  the  Chinese  ?  And  if  he  is  going 
to  keep  cows  why  cannot  the  wash-boy,  or  the 
gateman,  or  the  cook,  be  persuaded  to  milk 
them?  In  the  first  place,  the  Chinese  do  not 
drink  milk,  eat  butter  or  milk  cows.  They  use 
them  for  plow  animals.  In  the  second  place, 
there  are  no  fenced  lots  for  pasture.  Some  one 
must  watch  them  while  they  are  feeding  lest  they 
destroy  surrounding  gardens.  In  the  third  place, 
Chinese  cows  have  never  had  their  milking 
qualities  developed  and  give  about  as  much  milk 
as  a  goat,  hence  a  considerable  dairy  must  be 
kept  to  supply  milk  and  butter  for  an  ordinary 
family.  So  many  cannot  be  tied  out  as  might  be 
done  with  one  cow  in  an  American  town.  There- 
fore, some  one  must  be  delegated  to  look  after  the 


THE  MISSIONARY  COMPOUND         61 

cows,  some  one  whose  perpetual  business  is  to 
care  for  them.  There  are  between  ten  and 
twenty  head  of  big  and  little  cattle  in  the  mis- 
sionary's ordinary  herd. 

But  if  a  goat  will  give  as  much  as  a  cow,  why 
not  keep  goats?  Some  missionaries  do  and 
they  find  them  as  troublesome  as  a  herd  of  cows. 
The  only  difference  is  the  amount  of  money  in- 
vested. The  Chinese  eat  pork  and  very  little 
beef.  One  tires  of  chicken  and  fish  when  these 
become  the  daily  diet.  When  the  Chinese  do 
have  beef  for  sale  it  is  that  of  an  animal  that  has 
grown  too  old  for  service.  So  each  winter,  from 
his  own  herd,  the  missionary  can  supply  this  lack 
and  know  the  quality  of  the  meat  he  is  eating. 

The  truth  is,  condensed  milk  and  canned  but- 
ter (oleomargarine)  cost  as  much  as  the  entire 
expense  of  a  dairy,  including  the  wages  of  the 
cow-man.  Pasture  costs  little.  During  the  short 
winter  months  one  only  needs  stables,  some  rice 
straw  and  a  little  grain.  During  the  summer  the 
cow-man's  wages  are  the  only  expense. 

The  Chinese  have  no  tomatoes,  cabbages, 
cauliflower,  beets,  parsnips  or  squashes.  Neither 
have  they  grape-vines  or  berry  bushes.  These 
readily  grow  in  the  Chinese  soil  and  it  is  a 
pleasure  and  profit  to  introduce  them.  They 
have  figs,  little  yellow  cherries,  persimmons, 
pomegranates,  pears  and  peaches,  but  even  these 
are  rarely  all  seen  in  one  region, — except  by  the 


62     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

work  of  the  missionary.  So  the  compound  be- 
comes an  exhibit  of  horticulture,  bearing  its  les- 
son to  the  Chinese  and  ministering  to  the  health 
of  the  missionary  family. 

Sweet-williams,  pansies,  carnations  and  many 
other  of  our  flowers  were  never  seen  in  China 
until  the  missionary  planted  them  there.  When 
shade  and  fruit  trees  dot  the  yard,  foreign  and 
native  flowers  deck  its  borders  and  a  lawn 
spreads  over  the  intervening  space  (the  Chinese 
never  have  lawns),  the  place  becomes  a  beautiful 
soothing  prospect  to  the  heart  and  eyes  of  the 
dwellers  there.     //  is  home. 

The  brick,  the  cows,  and  the  servants  are 
Chinese,  to  be  sure,  but  all  the  remainder  are 
matters  of  wonderful  curiosity  to  the  Chinese  vis- 
itors who  flock  into  that  yard.  The  garden,  the 
arrangement  of  the  place,  the  plans  of  the  house, 
even  the  timber  in  the  house  are  foreign  produc- 
tion. The  matched  flooring,  doors,  windows, 
joists  and  great  roof  timbers  all  grew  on  the 
slopes  of  Oregon  and  California.  The  Chinese 
have  denuded  their  hills  until  they  have  very 
little  valuable  timber.  Oregon  pine  is  shipped 
to  Shanghai  in  the  form  of  great  timbers.  From 
there  it  is  freighted  up  the  Yangtse  and  rafted  to 
interior  points.  It  occupied  many  days  of  time 
for  the  Chinese  sawyers  with  their  slow  method 
of  hand  labour  to  turn  those  timbers  into  doors 
and  windows. 


THE  MISSIONARY  COMPOUND         63 

But  nothing  pleases  the  natives  better  than  the 
flowers.  They  look  into  the  face  of  an  innocent 
pansy  and  turning  to  the  missionary  ask,  *'  Where 
did  you  get  them?  Do  you  raise  them  from 
seed  ?  Is  there  any  place  we  can  buy  the  seed  ?" 
We  dig  up  a  pansy,  root  and  all,  place  it  in  the 
hands  of  the  eager  questioner  and  watch  as  it 
starts  on  its  mission.  The  tiny  flower  is  taken  to 
a  home  where  its  strange  face  is  viewed  by  all 
who  come  into  the  place.  By  and  by  the  re- 
ceiver comes  back.  In  his  hands,  or  the  hands 
of  a  servant,  is  borne  a  rose-bush,  a  chrysanthe- 
mum, or  other  native  flower.  A  heart  has  been 
opened  to  the  influence  of  the  Gospel  and  the 
key  was  a  pansy  blossom. 

A  poor  old  gardener  comes  frequently  into  our 
compound  and  moves  among  the  curious  flowers 
and  shrubbery.  He  is  a  flower  lover  but  he 
never  asks  for  plants  unless  there  are  more  than 
we  will  use.  He  never  forgets  the  obligation. 
When  some  one  in  the  foreign  home  is  sick  he 
will  bring  a  full  blooming  aster,  dahlia  or  zinnia. 
In  the  quiet  of  the  evening  we  will  sit  on  the  rude 
bench  at  the  door  of  his  little  hut  and  tell  him  of 
the  One  who  loved  the  lilies  and  flowers  of  the 
field. 

Another  feature  of  the  compound  in  the  in- 
terior are  the  horses  and  donkeys  When  jour- 
neys are  to  be  taken,  it  is  not  easy  to  hire  suit- 
able animals.     So  many  are  sore-backed  and  un- 


64     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

derfed.  So  the  missionary  must  keep  his  own. 
While  not  in  use  upon  the  road,  the  donkeys  be- 
come perambulators  for  the  mission  children. 
There  are  no  smooth  walks  and  streets  upon 
which  buggies  and  wagons  can  roll.  Thus  the 
donkey  is  brought  into  requisition  and  the  chil- 
dren learn  to  ride  before  they  are  able  to  walk. 

The  little  two-year  old  baby,  who  is  learning  to 
speak  Chinese  as  fast  as  she  is  lisping  English, 
will  go  on  a  hunt  for  her  favourite  among  the 
servants.  '*  Lao  Wang,  O  yao  chii  lii-dz  "  (Old 
Wang,  I  want  to  ride  the  donkey),  is  her  call. 
When  she  finds  the  man  she  will  lead  him  to  the 
stables  and  stand  by  while  he  fastens  the  basket- 
like saddle  onto  the  donkey's  back.  Then  she 
will  reach  up  her  arms  to  him  and  he  will  put  her 
upon  her  throne.  He  is  her  abject  slave  and  she 
is  his  little  queen.  They  would  risk  their  lives 
for  these  little  ones. 

Do  the  missionaries  eat  with  a  bowl  and  chop- 
sticks ?  Is  the  food  cooked  in  Chinese  style  ? 
Just  as  it  has  been  found  unwise  to  live  in  the  low, 
damp,  unhealthy  Chinese  houses,  so  it  has  been 
demonstrated  that  it  is  better  to  eat  food  prepared 
similar  to  that  which  has  been  eaten  in  the  home 
land.  Missionaries  learn  to  like  an  occasional 
meal  cooked  in  Chinese  style  and  the  children 
enjoy  it  even  more  than  the  parents.  Upon  the 
itinerating  journeys  Chinese  food  is  eaten  exclu- 
sively.    But  the  daily  fare  is  the  same  as  in  the 


THE  MISSIONARY  COMPOUND         65 

home  land.  The  cook  receives  his  education  in 
the  preparation  of  foods  from  the  missionary- 
wife.  He  becomes  proud  of  his  ability  to  turn 
out  foreign  dishes.  On  special  days  like  Thanks- 
giving and  Christmas,  he  is  in  his  glory.  There 
will  be  company.  He  will  have  an  opportunity 
to  reveal  to  them  his  skill  in  preparing  food  which 
their  servants  cannot  produce.  Does  it  not  all 
bring  glory  to  his  mistress  who  has  taught 
him  ? 

The  garden,  dairy  and  street  furnish  many 
things  for  the  table.  In  the  open  ports,  along  the 
rivers  and  coast,  Chinese  have  opened  what  are 
called  compradore  stores  in  which  can  be  pur- 
chased many  kinds  of  foreign  goods.  A  servant 
and  a  donkey  can  be  sent  to  these  points  for 
things  lacking  in  the  larder.  The  main  things 
like  sugar,  salt,  vinegar,  canned  goods,  spices, 
breakfast  foods,  etc.,  are  bought  in  large  quanti- 
ties in  Shanghai  or  by  mail  order  from  America. 
These  stores  are  arranged  upon  the  shelves  in  the 
lock  room  and  stand  ready  for  any  emergency. 
Missionaries  upon  evangelizing  trips  or  visiting 
other  stations,  visitors  from  across  the  seas  study- 
ing missions,  businessmen,  railroad  surveyors  and 
government  representatives  are  among  the  visitors 
who  drop  in  upon  the  mission  home  at  interior 
points.  A  glad  welcome  awaits  them  all.  Vis- 
itors do  not  come  that  way  every  day.  The  lock 
room  is  made  to  yield  up  its  secrets  and  in  a  litde 


66     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

time  the  visitors,  be  they  two  or  ten,  are  called 
to  a  well-spread  table. 

Somewhere  about  the  place  is  likely  to  be  found 
a  workshop.  It  may  be  in  the  attic  or  in  some 
side  building.  It  is  the  magician's  secret  room 
from  which  are  produced  corner  couches,  little  ta- 
bles, playthings  for  the  children,  window-seats, 
stools  and  other  little  articles  so  necessary  in  the 
house.  Boxes  which  have  brought  goods  from 
across  the  ocean,  disappear  into  this  workshop. 
They  are  carefully  taken  apart.  That  rough  box 
lumber  is  precious  in  China.  The  same  carpen- 
ters who  built  the  house  can  make  articles  of  fur- 
niture. Other  pieces  are  bought  in  Shanghai  and 
a  few  choice  articles  have  come  from  the  home 
land.  But  out  of  those  boxes  come  the  little  de- 
tails which  add  to  the  convenience  of  the  place. 
Perhaps  a  local  carpenter  has  been  taught  how  to 
produce  these  odd  pieces  and  thus  relieve  the 
busy  missionary, — but  more  of  that  in  another 
chapter 


VI 

THE   MISSIONARY   HOME   AS   AN 
EVANGELIZING  AGENCY 

THE  Christian  home,  planted  in  the  midst 
of  heathenism,  is  one  of  the  greatest 
evangelizing  agencies  known  to  Chris- 
tian missions.  It  is  an  exhibit  of  Christian 
civilization.  The  Christian  man  and  woman, 
who  occupy  the  missionary  home,  stand  before 
God  and  their  fellow  men  as  equals.  They  find 
in  each  other's  society,  companionship  and  fel- 
lowship. They  are  capable  of  mutually  counsel- 
ling and  advising.  Their  every  relationship  is 
marked  by  the  love  of  Christ.  Heathenism  has 
no  such  exhibit. 

Sometimes  there  starts  a  young  woman  for  the 
mission  field.  On  board  the  same  outgoing 
steamer  is  a  young  man  who  has  consecrated  his 
life  to  a  like  purpose.  These  two  meet  on  board 
the  steamer,  are  drawn  together  by  mutual  aims, 
find  enjoyment  in  discussing  their  plans  and  am- 
bitions. The  old,  old  story  is  reenacted  upon 
that  ocean  voyage. 

When  friends  in  the  home  land  receive  the 
news  of   the  engagement  and  marriage  of  the 

67 


68     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

young  woman,  there  is  a  tendency  to  criticise 
her  action.  They  had  sent  her  out  dreaming  that 
she  might  become  another  Miss  Agnew  who 
should  mother  hundreds  of  heathen  girls.  Now 
they  imagine  her  usefulness  as  a  missionary  is 
gone  and  she  will  be  only  a  missionary's  wife, — 
as  if  in  that  capacity  she  could  not  be  a  mis- 
sionary. 

She  has  probably  done  what  she  ought  to  have 
done.  She  has  linked  her  life  with  the  man  with 
whom  God  intended  hers  should  be  linked,  and 
she  is  going  forward  to  establish  a  home  which 
shall  be  a  living  witness  of  the  elevating  power 
of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  Is  it  not  from  the 
home  that  light  radiates  forth  to  enlighten  the 
nations,  or  darkness  goes  out  to  enshroud  man- 
kind? 

This  does  not  mean  that  single  women  are  not 
needed.  They  are  needed  and  wonderful  is  the 
part  they  play  in  the  elevating  of  heathen  woman- 
hood. They  have  freedom  to  travel  and  enter 
the  homes.  To  them  is  granted  the  privilege  of 
meeting  heathenism  in  its  citadel,  the  heathen 
home.  But  to  the  married  woman  is  given  the 
opportunity  of  revealing  to  heathenism  Christi- 
anity in  its  citadel,  the  Christian  home.  Often 
she,  too,  ministers  in  those  darkened  homes 
and  teaches  classes  of  women  who  come  within 
her  reach  but  it  is  in  her  home  where  she 
reigns  as  queen.     Before  this,  her  throne,  even 


m-.....^ 


4.                                   ^^i. 

Pi^  ^^M^M 

^T'^^^^^gKs^w?*^ 

■''"*\2 

M^JS^'                -^ 

-M^^^^^^BHH^^I 

^^taflUHMH 

Missionaries  turning  aside  from  their  conference  to  an  after- 
noon tea. 


The   author's  home   in   Chu   Cheo,    China.     His   dispensary   is 
seen  at  the  right. 


THE  MISSIONARY  HOME  69 

heathenism  bows  in  acknowledgment  of  the 
supremacy  of  Christianity  over  other  religious 
systems. 

A  Christian  home  is  scarcely  opened  in  a  Chi- 
nese city  before  it  becomes  the  centre  of  interest. 
Crowds  of  men  and  women  (they  never  come 
singly)  come  knocking  at  the  compound  door 
until  the  first  few  months  slip  away  and  time  has 
been  found  for  naught  else  but  entertaining  the 
visiting  neighbours.  Everything  in  that  new 
home  has  been  minutely  investigated.  The 
smooth  level  floors,  the  windows  and  doors  with 
their  fastenings,  the  fireplaces,  mantels,  stoves, 
carpets,  pictures,  chairs,  whitewashed  walls, 
dishes,  sewing  machine,  typewriter,  books  and 
bookcases  (even  an  old  Chinese  teacher's  library 
will  not  have  more  than  forty  volumes  of  books), 
the  cushions,  clean  bed  linen  and  comfortable 
beds, — these  all  are  marvels  of  interest  to  mil- 
lions who  have  been  passing  like  an  ever- 
flowing  stream  through  the  hundreds  of  Chris- 
tian homes  planted  over  the  hills  and  plains  of 
China. 

Every  act  of  the  husband  towards  his  wife,  or 
the  wife  towards  her  husband  ;  the  care  and  at- 
tention they  give  to  the  children  ;  the  manner  in 
which  the  children  are  corrected  and  governed, 
and  the  education  those  children  show,  are  closely 
watched  and  commented  upon.  They  see  a 
woman  who  is  educated,  who  has  judgment  and 


70     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

authority  in  her  home,  who  exacts  and  receives 
love,  even  as  she  gives  it  to  her  family.  It  is  a 
wonderful  revelation  to  the  Chinese.  That  rev- 
elation is  the  force  which  has  revolutionized 
China.  Armies  and  navies  could  not  have  pro- 
duced such  a  stupendous  change. 

Suppose  we  contrast  a  Chinese  home.  A 
native  man  and  woman  never  walk  on  the  street 
side  by  side.  The  family  do  not  sit  down  to- 
gether at  the  table  and  eat  their  food.  Men  do 
not  stay  around  home  and  enter  into  pleasant 
conversation  with  their  wives.  The  women  are 
considered  incapable  of  acting  in  such  a  ca- 
pacity,— and  they  are  incapable.  A  Chinese 
woman  is  little  more  than  a  child  grown  tall. 
Her  only  education  is  that  of  experience  and  she 
has  learned  it  in  an  evil  school.  She  has  very 
little  refinement.  She  knows  no  other  way  of 
obtaining  what  she  calls  her  rights  than  by 
secret  conniving  or  open  quarrelling.  A  family 
quarrel  is  carried  to  the  street  and  the  neigh- 
bours must  be  called  in  to  mediate  and  reconcile 
the  couple. 

The  character  used  to  designate  the  word 
"  home "  pictures  a  pig  under  a  roof.  That  is 
all  their  homes  are,  merely  shelters.  Even  the 
women  and  the  children  prefer  the  open  air  to 
staying  within  doors.  An  American  farm  barn  is 
more  habitable  and  better  constructed  than  some 
of  the  buildings  in  which  Chinese  officials  live. 


THE  MISSIONARY  HOME  Yl 

The  majority  of  their  houses  have  only  "  mother 
earth"  as  a  floor.  The  donkeys,  cows,  farm 
utensils  are  intermingled  with  the  family  quar- 
ters. Beds  for  men  and  feeding-troughs  for  ani- 
mals are  in  close  proximity.  An  easy-chair  or  a 
clean  bed  is  rarely  found  in  a  Chinese  home. 
Glass  windows  are  a  recent  innovation  and  only 
rich  homes  display  them.  What  wonder,  then, 
that  the  missionary  home  should  be  so  attractive 
and  there  should  spring  up  in  the  visitors'  hearts 
a  longing  for  such  comforts  and  such  love  in 
their  own  homes  ? 

They  are  copying  those  Christian  homes. 
Questions  are  being  asked  the  missionary  doctor 
concerning  hygiene  and  sanitation.  Dirty  pools 
of  water  are  disappearing  from  before  the  front 
doors  of  their  homes.  Little  children  are  being 
dressed  more  respectably  and  with  due  attention 
to  social  purity.  One  man  was  rebuking  another 
for  continually  quarrelling  with  his  wife. 

"  Everybody  does  the  same.  Why  should  not 
I  ?  "  was  the  retort. 

"  The  missionaries  do  not  quarrel  with  their 
wives,"  thoughtfully  answered  the  rebuker. 

As  we  are  called  to  the  Chinese  homes  in  our 
ministries,  we  notice  little  innovations.  A  baby  is 
being  expected  in  one  place.  Ordinarily  the  Chi- 
nese wait  until  the  baby  comes,  before  preparing 
the  clothing.  Why  should  they  do  otherwise? 
So  many  babies  die  at  birth.     To  prepare  cloth- 


^2     BKEAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

ing  and  not  use  it  would  be  a  waste.  For 
the  first  few  days  the  little  one's  nest  is  within 
the  bosom  of  its  mother's  clothing.  But  in  this 
home  we  find  them  preparing  clothing  for  the 
newcomer  and  even  copying  the  model  of  the 
missionary's  baby.  They  have  called  the  car- 
penter to  make  a  cradle  that  it  may  have  its 
own  bed  instead  of  having  it  sleep  with  its 
mother. 

In  another  home  are  found  better  constructed 
chairs.  They  are  also  glorying  in  the  possession 
of  a  locally  made  rocking-chair.  A  travelling 
photographer  has  passed  through  the  place. 
Members  of  the  family  or  the  family  group  have 
sat  for  pictures  and  these  are  framed  and  hung 
on  the  newly  whitewashed  walls.  Sheets  are  ap- 
pearing upon  the  beds.  Small  stoves  are  creep- 
ing into  the  houses.  Teachers  are  taking  news- 
papers and  other  periodicals.  Books  on  modem 
subjects  are  being  placed  on  their  shelves. 

Influential  men  among  them,  after  watching 
the  mission  home,  have  said  again  and  again, 
*'  May  the  day  soon  come  in  China  when  we  can 
have  educated  and  cultured  womanhood  in  our 
homes."  They  are  taking  practical  steps  towards 
the  education  of  their  girls.  Mission  schools  for 
girls  they  loyally  support.  When  told  how  a  man 
in  America  may  win  a  woman  to  be  his  wife  and 
they  have  contrasted  such  a  method  with  their 
own  customs,  it  has  required  no  argument  to 


THE  MISSIONARY  HOME  73 

prove  to  them  which  is  the  better  way.  It  is  im- 
possible in  heathen  countries  to  grant  the  advan- 
tages of  social  intercourse  between  young  people 
of  opposite  sex. 

A  Chinese  rarely  sees  his  wife  before  she  is 
bound  to  him  in  marriage.  She  is  selected  by  a 
middleman,  usually  some  old  woman,  whose  only 
care  is  to  see  that  the  horoscopes  of  the  contract- 
ing parties  agree  and  that  she  gets  her  fee  for  ar- 
ranging the  engagement.  The  bride  is  brought 
to  the  home  of  the  bridegroom's  parents  in  a 
closed  chair.  She  is  completely  enveloped  by  her 
red  wedding  garments.  Her  face  is  hidden  be- 
hind a  thick  veil.  She  is  met  at  the  door  by  the 
bridesmaids,  two  old  women,  who  lead  her  to  her 
future  husband.  The  prostrations  are  made,  the 
intermingled  wine  drank  and  the  entire  ceremony 
completed  before  the  bridegroom  is  allowed  to 
lead  her  to  the  bridal  chamber  and  there  lift  her 
veil  and  look  upon  her  countenance. 

But  what  difference  does  that  make  to  a  man 
living  in  a  land  where  woman  is  only  regarded  as 
a  necessary  appurtenance  for  the  propagating  of 
the  family  lineage  ?  He  does  not  look  to  his  wife 
for  happiness.  She  could  not  be  a  companion  to 
him.  He  will  obtain  social  pleasures  in  the  com- 
pany of  men.  As  for  her,  his  mother  will  look 
after  her  conduct  and  see  that  she  takes  her  place 
in  the  economy  of  the  household.  That  there 
could  be  congenial  fellowship  between  a  man  and 


U     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

his  wife  was  not  conceived  by  them  until  the  mis- 
sionary home  revealed  the  fact. 

A  missionary  mother  was  starting  with  her 
children  for  the  home  land.  For  nearly  eight 
years  she  had  been  amongst  the  people  of  that 
city.  She  had  been  in  the  homes  of  the  Christians. 
Some  of  the  babies  had  received  their  first  bath 
from  her  hands.  The  women  had  come  to  her 
with  their  troubles  when  they  could  not  summon 
courage  to  meet  the  medical  missionary.  She 
had  made  garments  for  their  children.  She  had 
listened  to  their  wrongs.  She  had  found  solu- 
tion for  many  a  little  difficulty.  Even  the  men 
had  not  been  ashamed  to  learn  of  her  and  be 
guided  by  her  counsels. 

She  had  watched  over  the  work  when  her  hus- 
band would  be  out  on  evangelistic  tours  or  meet- 
ing the  mission  committee  on  business.  She  had 
weighed  wood  and  straw  and  paid  the  labourers 
who  had  carried  in  the  load  on  their  shoulders. 
They  had  stood  aghast  at  a  woman  capable  of 
doing  such  a  mathematical  task.  They  were  cer- 
tain no  Chinese  woman  had  such  ability.  She 
had  presided  at  her  table  with  culture  and  ability 
when  some  of  the  higher  classes  had  visited  in 
the  mission  home.  They  had  marvelled  at  such 
refinement  in  woman. 

Now  she  was  returning  to  her  home  land.  She 
had  come  unbidden  to  their  midst.  She  was 
going  away  followed  by  their  respect  and  love. 


THE  MISSIONARY  HOME  75 

It  was  only  a  mile  to  the  riverside  where  she  was  to 
take  the  boat.  She  had  walked  that  mile  many 
times.  But  she  was  not  to  walk  it  this  time. 
The  Christians  had  called  a  sedan  chair  with 
bearers.  It  was  the  only  practical  thing  they 
could  do  to  show  their  respect. 

When  the  time  for  starting  arrived  the  chair- 
bearers  had  disappeared.  They  saw  in  the  af- 
fair an  opportunity  to  demand  exorbitant  fees 
and  had  slipped  out  of  sight  until  more  money 
was  offered  them.  When  the  Christians  ap- 
prehended the  situation  they  put  their  own 
shoulders  under  the  poles  of  the  chair  and  carried 
that  foreign  woman  to  the  river  bank.  Seven 
years  ago  they  would  not  have  done  that  for  a 
foreigner,  be  he  man  or  woman. 

Upon  the  river  bank  they  stood  and  tried  to 
express  their  farewell  salutations. 

"May  your  whole  journey  be  one  of 
peace." 

**  May  you  have  joy  in  meeting  your  parents 
again." 

"  We  will  pray  for  you  all  the  way  and  may 
you  pray  for  us." 

**  The  whole  church  will  be  as  one  pair  of  eyes 
looking  for  your  return." 

That  is  what  they  tried  to  say.  The  tears 
covered  their  cheeks  and  blurred  their  eyes. 
The  unbidden  sobs  came  and  choked  their  utter- 
ances.    They  stood   on   the   bank  a  silent,  sad 


76      BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

group  as  the  boat  slowly  swung  out  into  the^ 
stream  and  floated  away. 

**  If  you  want  to  convince  a  man  let  loose  a  life  at  him. 
Talk  is  cheap,  but  the  logic  of  a  life  is  irresistible." 


VII 

THE  GOSPEL  THROUGH  A  BRACE  AND  BIT 

TSIH  GWEI-LING  drifted  into  Chu  Cheo 
providentially.  He  had  spent  the  best 
of  his  life  working  along  the  lines  of  least 
resistance  or  being  led  by  his  impulsive  heart. 
His  career  had  begun  at  Wuhu,  where,  after 
Chinese  fashion,  he  had  cemented  brotherly  re- 
lations with  another  young  carpenter,  named 
Bien,  to  whom  he  had  been  drawn.  Later  he  had 
eloped  with  his  employer's  young  wife.  His 
employer  had  himself  been  criminally  careless 
about  his  wife  as  most  opium  smokers  are  likely 
to  be,  but  that  did  not  excuse  Tsih's  act. 

Tsih  settled  with  his  ill-gotten  wife  in  a  town 
about  a  week's  journey  (two  hundred  miles) 
away  from  Wuhu.  There  was  no  danger  that 
his  former  employer  would  follow  him  or  trace 
him  that  far.  A  position  as  runner  in  the  official 
yamen  was  secured  and  with  it  a  living  was 
sure.  He  had  plenty  of  idle  time  on  his  hands. 
It  gave  him  liberty  to  drift  in  where  anything  in- 
teresting might  be  happening. 

A  mission  street  chapel  had  been  opened  by 
some  Presbyterian  missionaries.  Tsih  mingled 
with  the  crowds  who  flocked  in  to  see  the  for- 

77 


78     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

eigners.  He  came  again.  The  Gospel  story  in- 
terested  him  and  soon  his  name  was  on  the  roll 
of  enquirers.  In  due  time  he  became  a  member 
of  the  church.  He  did  not  say  anything  about 
his  relations  with  the  woman  he  called  his  wife. 
He  did  not  see  any  special  connection  between 
his  religion  and  his  general  conduct.  To  him 
the  Christian  doctrine  was  better  than  that  of 
heathenism.  The  utterances  of  the  Bible  con- 
cerning future  life  and  the  manner  of  obtaining 
it  were  clear  and  definite.  He  was  not  a  student 
and  did  not  trouble  himself  to  gain  more  than  a 
surface  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures.  That  there 
were  certain  material  benefits  accruing  to  those 
who  held  connection  with  the  foreigners  and 
their  religion,  was  of  greater  interest  to  him. 

That  exception  might  be  taken  to  certain  past 
acts  of  his  life  did  not  trouble  him.  He  would 
take  care  that  those  facts  did  not  reach  the 
knowledge  of  the  foreigners.  When  the  passion 
was  on  him  he  still  held  a  position  at  the  gamb- 
ling table  and  played  until  his  last  cash  was 
gone.  Any  bully  looking  for  a  quarrel  always 
found  him  ready  to  stand  up  for  his  **  rights." 
Why  should  he  not  drink  wine  if  he  liked  it  ?  So 
the  missionaries  remained  in  ignorance  of  some 
very  important  acts  in  his  Hfe's  drama. 

His  wife  became  sick  and,  as  a  sequel  went 
temporarily  insane.  She  asked  to  be  taken  back 
to  her  childhood  home  near  Lu  Cheo  Fu  and  as 


THROUGH  A  BRACE  AND  BIT         7b 

it  was  a  sufficient  distance  from  the  home  of  her 
first  husband,  he  took  her  to  the  place.  He 
stayed  by  her,  nursed  her  through  all  her  de- 
mentia until  health  came  again.  They  had 
learned  to  love  each  other.  Perhaps  they  had 
loved  each  other  from  their  first  associations. 
Heathenism  has  so  little  to  make  the  marriage 
tie  sacred  that  they  would  have  seen  no  wrong 
in  forming  such  an  attachment. 

When  she  recovered  her  mental  balance  he 
went  back  to  his  carpenter's  trade  to  make  a 
Hving  and,  seeking  work,  drifted  into  Chu  Cheo. 
A  local  carpenter  took  him  on  as  an  assistant. 
One  day  Tsih,  in  adapting  himself  to  his  new 
surroundings,  discovered  that  the  scrolls  on  the 
door  of  a  neighbour's  house,  bore  evidence  of  a 
connection  with  the  Christian  Church.  Since  he 
also  had  professed  to  be  a  Christian,  he  intro- 
duced himself  and  began  to  investigate  what 
amount  of  material  aid  he  might  gain  in  associ- 
ating with  the  Chu  Cheo  church.  Mr.  Wang, 
this  Christian  neighbour,  was  in  our  employ  and 
knew  of  our  need  of  a  carpenter.  So  he  advised 
Tsih  to  bring  his  wife  to  Chu  Cheo,  rent  a  house, 
set  up  business  for  himself  and  await  develop- 
ments. 

We  did  need  a  carpenter.  In  a  town  of  ten 
thousand  people  there  was  not  one  good  one. 
Such  as  there  were,  could  make  only  rough  Chi- 
nese furniture.     Even  the  Chinese  had  to  bring 


80     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

all  their  better  class  of  furniture  from  Nanking. 
The  work  about  a  mission  home  was  so  different 
from  what  they  were  used  to  doing  that,  even 
though  it  guaranteed  good  pay,  they  were  un- 
willing to  learn  how  to  do  it.  Our  blinds  would 
come  loose.  We  needed  to  have  shelving  put  in 
and  pieces  of  furniture  made.  Small  outbuild- 
ings must  be  erected.  It  was  too  costly  to  send 
to  Nanking  for  men  to  make  such  repairs.  We 
had  no  time  to  do  them  ourselves.  It  required 
too  much  time  to  gain  the  help  of  the  local  men 
and  outwit  their  trickery  when  they  did  come  to 
help. 

Tsih  began  attending  the  Sunday  services  and, 
in  course  of  time,  Wang  brought  him  to  our 
notice.  We  were  told  of  his  connection  with  the 
church,  of  the  sickness  through  which  his  wife 
had  passed  and  of  his  coming  to  town  seeking 
for  work.  Wang  did  not  seem  to  think  it  neces- 
sary to  enter  extensively  into  any  other  features 
of  Tsih's  life.  Indeed,  it  is  doubtful  if  he  himself 
knew  of  them. 

Tsih  came  into  our  study  one  day.  We  told 
him  of  our  dilemma  in  getting  carpenter  work 
done  and  asked  him  if  he  were  willing,  for  a 
proper  compensation,  to  do  work  under  our 
supervision.  When  we  were  not  using  him  he 
could  work  elsewhere.     Of  course  he  was  willing. 

We  tested  him  on  various  little  pieces  of  repair 
about  the  place.     He  listened  to  our  instructions 


THROUGH  A  BRACE  AND  BIT         81 

and  did  his  work  well.  Our  dry-goods  and 
grocery  boxes  he  turned  into  needed  pieces  of 
furniture.  We  searched  catalogues  for  patterns 
and  described  them  to  him.  We  made  a  paste- 
board model  of  a  garden  wheelbarrow  and  gave 
the  measurements.  He  turned  out  an  excellent 
barrow  but  came  to  us  for  help  in  making  the 
wheel.  He  wanted  to  put  an  iron  rod  through 
the  axle.  The  Chinese  usually  burn  such  a  hole 
through  with  a  hot  iron.  He  had  been  in  our 
shop  and  seen  us  use  a  brace  and  bit.  For  the 
first  time  its  possibilities  dawned  upon  him  and 
he  wished  to  test  it  in  making  the  hole  for  the 
axle.  It  worked  its  way  so  quickly  and  smoothly 
through  the  wood  that  the  superiority  of  some 
foreign  methods  permeated  his  mind. 

That  event  was  the  beginning  step  in  his  up- 
lift. He  began  to  study  the  pictures  of  our  cata- 
logues. He  tested  the  tools  we  had  on  hand. 
He  experimented  with  a  foreign  plane  iron  and 
found  it  would  hold  an  edge  better  than  the 
Chinese  plane  irons.  Then  he  made  requests  for 
the  purchase  of  a  saw,  hammer,  files,  screws, 
locks  and  hinges.  The  quality  of  his  work  im- 
proved and  repaid  the  extra  trouble  which  the 
buying  of  the  tools  caused  us. 

He  made  a  bookcase,  typewriter  stand,  chest 
of  drawers,  beds  for  the  children  and  a  glass  case 
for  surgical  instruments.  He  studied  rattan  work 
and  turned  out  chairs.     He  learned  how  to  paint 


82     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

and  put  successive  coats  on  the  buildings.  He 
took  contracts  for  the  smaller  outbuildings  and 
made  a  success  in  their  construction.  When  one 
of  the  schools  of  western  learning  in  the  town 
wished  to  introduce  military  drill  into  their  ath- 
letics, he  took  the  contract  for  producing  wooden 
guns  of  regulation  size  and  shape.  Not  another 
carpenter  in  the  place  could  have  made  them. 

That  is  the  story  of  how  he  became  the  leading 
carpenter  in  Chu  Cheo.  Very  closely  interwoven 
with  that  tale  are  the  successive  steps  by  which 
he  rose  from  the  place  of  a  nominal  Christian  to 
being  a  real  one.  As  the  brace  and  bit  opened 
his  eyes  to  better  methods  and  finer  skill  in  his 
trade,  so  also  they  paved  the  way  to  a  more 
sympathetic  fellowship  with  Christians  and  a 
deeper  appreciation  of  the  Christian  life.  Prior 
to  this  time  there  had  not  come  to  him  the  ex- 
perience of  other  men  showing  an  unselfish  inter- 
est in  his  welfare.  Christianity  was  revealed  in 
a  new  light.  He  saw  the  relationship  between 
brotherhood  and  true  religion. 

He  seemed  to  have  always  had  a  kindly  na- 
ture. His  voice  and  manner  were  pleasing.  He 
was  good  to  his  family.  He  was  a  willing 
worker.  Having  declared  his  connections  with 
the  church,  Tsih  attended  services  regularly. 
There  was  a  happy  fellowship  among  the  circle 
of  Christians  in  Chu  Cheo  and  they  welcomed 
him  to  it.     He  closed  his  business  on  Sundays 


THROUGH  A  BRACE  AND  BIT         83 

and  brought  his  assistants  to  church.  His  wife 
came  with  him  and,  showing  a  good  life,  was 
soon  a  member.  A  Christian  Endeavour  society 
was  organized  and  Tsih  became  an  active  mem- 
ber.    All  was  going  smoothly  on  the  up  grade. 

But  old  habits  are  not  willing  to  be  buried  so 
easily.  Even  past  records,  which  we  think  so 
securely  hidden,  are  liable  to  reappear.  Tsih 
rented  rooms  in  a  building  adjoining  those  occu- 
pied by  another  servant  of  ours.  While  the  lat- 
ter was  away  on  business,  a  little  irritation  be- 
tween the  two  households  started  gossip.  A 
little  difference  grew  into  a  matter  of  great  im- 
portance. **  Face,"  so  precious  to  the  average 
Chinaman,  was  in  jeopardy.  Both  men  became 
proudly  unyielding.  To  them  a  pitched  battle 
seemed  the  only  solution  to  the  problem.  Tsih 
had  the  most  conscience  in  the  matter  and  made 
weak  attempts  to  settle  the  affair  but,  when  the 
other  servant  started  the  battle,  he  met  him  half 
way. 

It  happened  very  suddenly  one  morning  in 
our  compound.  Drastic  measures  had  to  be 
taken  to  bring  them  back  to  their  senses.  The 
experiences  of  the  weeks  following,  when  we 
were  trying  to  reestablish  peace  between  them, 
revealed  to  us  the  difference  between  a  good 
man  and  a  bad  one.  We  saw  that  the  course  of 
Tsih's  life  was  going  tip ;  that  of  the  other  man 
was     hurrying    downward.      One    was    slowly 


84    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

drifting  away  into  an  evil  life ;  the  other  was 
seeking  to  overcome  the  evil  of  a  past  life. 

Later  there  came  another  revelation  of  Tsih's 
past  life.  As  he  had  prospered  since  coming  to 
Chu  Cheo,  he  cast  about  for  some  one  to  aid 
him  in  his  growing  trade.  He  bethought  him- 
self of  Bien,  the  Wuhu  carpenter,  with  whom 
years  before  he  had  cemented  brotherly  rela- 
tions. They  had  agreed  that  should  one  of  them 
become  prosperous,  he  should  give  the  other  an 
opportunity  to  share  in  the  good  fortune.  So 
Tsih  went  privately  up  to  Wuhu  and  sought  out  his 
friend.  Bien  had  not  succeeded  in  his  business 
and  gladly  accepted  the  offer.  He  brought  his 
family  with  him  to  Chu  Cheo. 

Both  men  had  married  since  parting  and  knew 
nothing  of  each  other's  wives.  When  the  two 
women  n^et  they  found  they  had  also  known 
each  other  in  previous  years.  Bien's  wife  was  a 
natural  gossip  and  this  morsel  of  knowledge  was 
too  good  to  keep.  All  of  Tsih's  life  in  Wuhu  and 
his  relation  to  the  woman  he  called  his  wife,  which 
he  had  thought  so  securely  hid  from  his  associates 
in  Chu  Cheo,  came  to  the  surface.  It  was  a  hard 
blow  to  receive  just  when  he  was  on  the  up  grade 
to  a  better  life.  He  loved  the  woman  who  had 
borne  his  children  and  she  loved  him.  Yet, 
legally  or  morally,  she  was  not  his  wife. 

He  met  the  situation  manfully.  His  wife  was 
put  away  for  a  time  and  of  his  own  free  will  he 


THROUGH  A  BRACE  AND  BIT  85 

went  to  Wuhu  to,  if  possible,  straighten  out  the 
tangle.  Fortunately  for  the  case,  the  former 
opium  smoking  husband  had  succumbed  to  the 
drug  and  was  dead.  Tsih  went  to  the  relatives 
of  the  man  and  entered  into  an  agreement  with 
them  by  which  he  agreed  to  pay  over  to  them  a 
proper  sum  of  money  for  his  wife.  In  the  eyes 
of  the  Chinese  world,  this  action  on  his  part 
made  her  his  legal  wife. 

When  he  reestablished  his  home  life  he  was 
cleaner  and  stronger  spiritually.  He  had  made 
what  restitution  he  could  and,  once  more,  looked 
the  world  in  the  face.  His  pocketbook  was 
leaner  but  he  and  his  wife  were  happier.  In  the 
blessing  which  followed,  even  Bien  became  a 
Christian. 

The  mission  was  opening  new  resident  stations 
in  Bo-djou  and  Nantungchow.  Some  one  was 
needed  who  could  convert  the  temporarily  rented 
Chinese  buildings  into  semi-foreign  residences,  in 
which  the  new  missionaries  might  dwell.  When 
residence  had  been  established  land  would  be 
purchased  and  healthful  sanitary  foreign  build- 
ings would  be  erected  for  permanent  occupation. 

Local  carpenters  in  those  places  would  not  know 
how  to  do  the  work.  General  contractors  could 
not  afford  to  take  such  contracts.  Tsih  was  asked 
for  and  went  out  to  the  larger  service.  Under 
the  strain  of  diflficulties  other  faults  were  revealed 
in  him.     He    had   not   become   freed   from   the 


86     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

Chinese  system  of  graft.  He  allowed  his  quick 
temper  to  pass  beyond  his  control  and  injured 
one  of  his  assistants.  When  he  came  to  himself 
he  humbly  acknowledged  his  faults  and  made  res- 
titution. Tsih  fell  but  he  rose  again.  That 
was  the  glory  of  it  all.  He  was  not  content  to 
lie  in  the  slough  but  would  climb  up  again  and 
seek  to  cleanse  himself  of  the  stains. 

His  wife  became  temporarily  insane  a  second 
time.  He  went  to  great  inconvenience  to  please 
her  irrational  requests  and  gently  cared  for  her. 
He  gradually  ceased  to  quarrel.  An  insulting 
landlord  struck  him  with  a  piece  of  crockery. 
Tsih  did  not  retaliate.  He  was  reviled  and  he 
reviled  not  again.  He  made  good  his  word. 
He  would  acknowledge  his  sin.  The  Chinese 
are  so  slow  to  recognize  this  act  of  grace. 
Slowly  he  gained  the  confidence  of  the  Christian 
leaders.  His  life  was  coming  into  harmony  with 
his  faith.  He  studied  his  Bible  and  taught  it  in 
his  home.  Some  of  his  apprentices  became 
Christians.  In  leisure  time  he  went  with  groups 
of  workers  and  preached  on  the  streets  and  in 
the  homes.  When  the  leaders  of  the  district  con- 
ference were  casting  about  for  a  man  beyond  the 
ranks  of  the  evangelists,  who  could,  by  character 
and  ability,  fill  the  position  of  president  to  that 
body,  they  found  in  him  their  man.  Who  shall 
say  that  even  a  brace  and  a  bit  may  not  become 
an  evangelistic  agency  ? 


VIII 

THE  NEW  AGE  IN  CHINA 

THIRTY  years  ago  the  first  railroad  was 
built  upon  Chinese  soil.  It  ran  from 
Shanghai  to  Woosung  on  the  sea.  It 
was  a  fine  sample  of  the  products  of  civilization. 
The  Chinese  looked  at  the  railroad,  thought  of 
the  possibility  of  its  disturbing  their  dead  ances- 
tors and,  through  them,  the  entire  Chinese 
economy.  They  bought  it  up  and  cast  it  into  the 
sea.  A  little  later  they  rebuilt  it.  That  railroad 
has  now  been  extended  inland  until  it  is  com- 
pleted almost  to  Nanking,  two  hundred  miles 
away.  Beyond  Nanking  surveyors  are  laying 
out  lines  which,  when  finished,  will  connect  west- 
ward with  Hankow  and  northward  with  Peking. 
Trains  are  running  on  a  completed  railroad  con- 
necting Hankow  and  Peking,  a  distance  of  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  miles.  Another  railroad  be- 
tween Hankow  and  Canton  is  in  process  of  con- 
struction. The  Germans  have  constructed  other 
roads  through  the  heart  of  Shantung.  Thirty 
years  has  wrought  a  great  change  in  the  atti- 
tude of  the  Chinese  towards  railroad  building. 
The  old  fashioned  Chinese  soldier  is  rapidly 
87 


88     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

disappearing.  An  umbrella  and  a  fan  made  up 
part  of  his  equipment  and  many  carried  bird- 
cages about  with  them.  Upon  the  front  and 
back  of  their  uniforms  was  sewn  a  circular  piece 
of  bright  cloth  upon  which  was  inscribed  the 
name  of  their  company.  That  circular  piece  of 
cloth  made  an  ideal  target.  An  enemy  would 
have  to  be  a  poor  marksman,  indeed,  if  he  could 
not,  at  least,  wound  one  of  them.  The  guns, 
carried  by  these  soldiers,  were  those  cast  off  as 
obsolete  by  the  European  governments.  Li 
Hung  Chang  bought  them  up  at  a  low  figure  and 
sold  them  to  the  Chinese  government  for  several 
times  the  price  he  paid  for  them.  That  is  one 
source  from  which  he  obtained  his  wealth. 

It  has  taken  but  three  years  for  the  viceroys, 
Chang  Chi-tung  and  Yuan  Shi-kai,  to  produce  a 
modern  army  of  250,000  well-drilled  soldiers. 
Their  maneuvres  on  the  plains  of  Honan  and 
Shantung  have  amazed  the  army  experts  of  the 
world.  It  seemed  an  impossible  task  to  produce 
so  great  a  change  in  so  short  a  time.  The 
Chinese  soldiers  now  march  to  the  sound  of 
modern  military  music  and  are,  for  the  first  time 
in  China's  history,  singing  national  songs  and 
hymns.  They  are  dressed  in  modern  uniform 
and  carry  modern  rifles. 

The  government  of  Peking  has  issued  an  as- 
tonishing array  of  edicts.  The  queue,  that  an- 
cient badge  of  servitude  to  the  alien  Manchu 


THE  NEW  AGE  IN  CHINA  89 

rulers,  is  no  longer  coerced  upon  the  Chinese  and 
a  half  million  have  cut  them  off.  The  binding  of 
the  feet  of  the  little  girls  is  becoming  less  and 
less  popular.  No  ofhcial,  who  now  allows  it  in 
his  household,  will  be  permitted  to  hold  public 
ofBce.  The  ancient  penal  codes,  under  which 
criminals  were  executed  in  all  manner  of  hor- 
rible ways,  have  been  done  away.  The  extortion 
of  confession  in  court  by  torture  has  also  been 
abolished.  A  constitution  is  being  prepared  and 
a  currency  system  unified  and  brought  under  one 
centralized  control. 

One  of  the  most  wide-sweeping  reforms  is  the 
recent  opium  edict.  The  government  has  de- 
creed that  within  ten  years  opium  must  be  abol- 
ished throughout  the  empire  and  its  use  by  the 
common  people  cease.  Every  farmer  must 
diminish  his  present  crop  annually  by  one-tenth. 
Every  smoker  must  diminish  the  amount  he  con- 
sumes in  a  like  proportion.  No  man  under  sixty 
years  of  age  will  be  allowed  to  continue  its  use. 
Any  official,  who  persists  in  smoking  the  drug, 
shall  be  barred  from  office  and  any  official,  who 
shall  be  able  to  stamp  it  out  of  his  district  in  less 
than  the  allotted  time,  shall  be  promoted. 

When  we  consider  that  there  are  probably  not 
less  than  40,000,000  who  are  under  the  bondage 
of  the  drug  in  China,  we  begin  to  realize  the 
stupendousness  of  the  task  confronting  the  gov- 
ernment.     When  we  consider  farther  that  certain 


90     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

unscrupulous  foreigners  and  Chinese  have  been 
putting  upon  the  market  in  large  quantities  a  so- 
called  anti-opium  pill,  which  contains  morphine, 
we  see  the  immense  difficulties  which  confront 
the  officials  in  carrying  out  the  edict. 

Not  long  ago  three  foreigners  took  a  house- 
boat trip  up  the  Yangtse  River,  stopping  two  or 
three  weeks  before  each  of  the  large  cities  situ- 
ated on  the  banks  of  that  river.  In  nationality 
they  represented  the  three  countries  of  England, 
Germany  and  America.  To  introduce  their 
goods  among  the  Chinese  they  placarded  the 
walls  of  those  ancient  cities  with  advertisements 
of  cigarettes  and  gave  away  thousands  of  the 
cigarettes  to  the  people. 

Those  men  were  representatives  of  the  worst 
type  of  our  civilization.  Licentious  and  vile 
mouthed,  they  spent  their  leisure  time  in  drink- 
ing and  carousing.  Many  of  those  employed  in 
surveying  and  engineering  the  new  railroad  proj- 
ects and  the  opening  of  mines,  are  of  a  like  type 
and  only  accentuate  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
those  progressive  Chinese  who  would  transform 
their  country. 

Telegraph  wires  connect  all  the  larger  cities  in 
the  empire  and  the  Imperial  Post-office  is  rapidly 
opening  branches  in  every  portion  of  the  coun- 
try. In  the  last  six  years  one  hundred  and  fifty 
newspapers  have  been  started.  Peking,  the 
home   of  the  first  daily  paper  in  existence,  has 


THE  NEW  AGE  IN  CHINA  91 

now  ten  daily  newspapers  and  one  is  published 
by  a  woman  for  women. 

Great  publishing  houses  have  sprung  up  and 
are  producing  uncounted  amounts  of  literature. 
Educated  men  are  in  great  demand  for  transla- 
tion work.  Booker  T.  Washington's  book,  **  Up 
From  Slavery,"  and  other  similar  works  are  be- 
ing translated  into  Chinese  and  have  a  wide 
reading.  From  the  Japanese  many  works  on 
education,  science  and  philosophy  have  been  put 
into  the  Chinese  language.  Through  this  source 
the  works  of  Voltaire,  Huxley  and  Spencer  have 
been  introduced  and  are  leading  the  educated 
Chinese  from  Confucianism  to  atheism. 

Thirteen  hundred  years  ago  when  Europe  was 
largely  a  savage  wild  and  inhabited  by  our  un- 
tutored forefathers,  China,  already  civilized,  was 
inaugurating  her  wonderful  code  of  education 
and  civil  service  examinations.  Unchanged  they 
have  come  down  to  the  beginning  of  the  present 
century.  Recent  edicts  have  abrogated  this 
ancient  system  and  ushered  in  modern  educa- 
tional methods. 

The  extensive  examination  halls,  in  the  impor- 
tant literary  centres,  have  been  torn  down  and 
modern  school  buildings  erected  in  their  place. 
Other  cities  throughout  the  empire  have  erected 
similar  modern  buildings.  They  are  all  being 
furnished  with  the  best  equipment  known  to 
modern  education.     Idols  are  being  cast  out  of 


92     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

their  temples  and  destroyed.  Desks  and  black- 
boards are  taking  their  places. 

A  curriculum,  modeled  after  those  in  other 
countries,  has  been  published  with  the  seal  of  the 
emperor  and  copies  have  been  placed  in  every 
official  city.  Full  explanatory  notes  accompany 
each  copy.  The  course  prescribed  will  carry  a 
pupil  from  the  kindergarten  to  the  end  of  a  uni- 
versity training.  By  the  help  of  the  missionaries 
and  Japanese  educators,  a  series  of  school  books 
to  match  the  prescribed  course,  has  been  hur- 
ried into  existence  and  publishers  are  rushed  to 
supply  the  demand.  One  official  in  West  China 
was  so  anxious  to  begin  operations  at  once,  that 
he  ordered  the  books  by  telegraph  (a  much  more 
expensive  proceeding  than  in  wire-bound  America) 
and  ordered  that  they  be  sent  by  mail.  It  cost 
him  nearly  two  hundred  dollars  for  postage  but 
the  books  reached  him  in  a  third  of  the  time  re- 
quired for  the  slow  moving  Chinese  freight 
system. 

Schools  are  being  opened  for  girls  as  well  as 
boys.  In  some  places  little  children  of  both 
sexes  attend  school  side  by  side.  In  other 
places  separate  schools  are  opened  for  the  girls. 
Under  the  patronage  of  the  Empress  Dowager  a 
lama's  temple  in  Peking  has  been  appropriated 
for  a  girls*  school  and  no  bound-footed  girl  is  al- 
lowed to  attend  its  sessions. 

The  demand  for  qualified  teachers  has  been 


THE  NEW  AGE  IN  CHINA  93 

far  in  excess  of  the  supply.  Graduates  of  mis- 
sion schools  have  found  positions  with  large  sal- 
aries awaiting  them.  Japanese  have  been  called 
to  many  of  the  positions  but  so  many  of  them 
have  been  second  and  third  rate  men  that  they 
have  not  been  universally  satisfactory.  The 
Chinese  are  sending  the  brightest  of  their  young 
men  to  Japan  to  studv  western  learning.  They 
have  been  going  over  at  the  rate  of  five  hundred 
a  month.  In  Tokio  alone  there  are  fifteen  thou- 
sand Chinese  students.  Something  like  fifty 
thousand  Japanese  are  in  China  at  the  present 
time.  It  is  easy  to  see  how  Japan  is  gaining 
the  preponderance  of  power  in  the  empire. 

Because  of  the  impossibility  of  obtaining  an 
adequate  supply  of  capable  teachers  for  the  new 
schools,  confusion  has  reigned  within.  Chinese, 
who  knew  almost  nothing  about  the  subjects  they 
were  supposed  to  teach,  have  deceived  those  in 
authority  and  brought  reproach  upon  the 
schools.  Men  who  have  not  spent  six  months 
upon  the  language,  have  held  the  position  of 
teacher  of  English. 

Such  unsatisfactory  conditions  have  brought 
about  a  reaction  in  favour  of  the  mission  schools 
and  colleges.  Influential  men  have  brought 
their  children  to  our  schools  and  plead  that  they 
might  be  accepted.  They  have  willingly  paid 
all  expenses  and  made  no  stipulations  as  to  reg- 
ulations   and   courses  of    study.     When   faced 


94     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

with  the  possibiHty  of  their  children  becoming 
Christians  they  have,  in  instances,  declared  their 
willingness  that  their  children  should  become 
converts  to  the  Gospel.  A  number  of  men  in 
high  positions  are  Christians.  The  admiral  of 
the  Chinese  fleet  in  the  Yangtse  waters  is  such  a 
man  and  his  sons  are  being  educated  in  Chris- 
tian schools. 

Educated  Chinese  of  the  old  school  who  have 
been  foremost  in  bringing  about  the  new  era, 
find  the  conditions  have  progressed  beyond  their 
leadership.  The  theory  of  the  new  education 
they  have  learned  through  the  papers  and  mag- 
azines. But  its  application  is  incomprehensible 
to  them.  They  have  never  seen  a  modern 
school  in  working  order  and  they  have  no  nor- 
mal schools  in  which  they  might  learn  the  ap- 
plication of  the  methods.  They  are  too  old  to 
enter  school  themselves. 

In  the  interior  they  are  appealing  to  the  only 
one  capable  of  aiding  them,  the  missionary.  To 
him  they  are  coming.  For  the  first  time  in  the 
history  of  China  missions,  the  door  to  the  edu- 
cated classes  is  wide  open.  Atheists,  though 
these  leaders  are,  they  have  placed  themselves 
under  Christian  influence  for  the  sake  of  being 
able  to  cope  with  the  present  crisis.  They  have 
willingly  studied  the  Scriptures  along  with  their 
secular  studies  and  some  are  being  turned  to  a 
belief  in  the  One  God. 


THE  NEW  AGE  IN  CHINA  95 

Among  other  edicts  which  the  throne  has  been 
issuing  is  one  making  Sunday  a  legal  holiday. 
It  applies  with  special  force  to  the  new  schools 
and  the  new  army.  These  men  are  seizing  all 
possible  opportunities  to  gain  a  knowledge  of 
things  western.  Whole  schools  of  students  and 
companies  of  soldiers  have  walked  into  the 
Christian  chapels  and  churches  on  Sunday  morn- 
ing. Chou-fu,  when  governor  of  Shantung,  be- 
gan the  work  of  introducing  the  Bible  among 
officials.  He  said  that  ignorance  of  the  Bible 
had  been  the  cause  of  all  past  trouble  between 
the  Chinese  and  foreigners.  He  demanded  of 
the  officials  under  him,  that  they  should  make  a 
careful  study  of  the  Bible  in  order  to  an  under- 
standing of  the  missionary  propaganda.  When 
he  became  viceroy  at  Nanking  he  sent  an- 
other order  for  Bibles  to  the  American 
Bible  Society  and  distributed  them  among  the 
officials  within  his  jurisdiction.  Other  men 
in  authority  have  adopted  the  suggestion  and 
have  placed  the  Bible  in  the  new  schools  as 
a  text-book  in  order  that  the  rising  genera- 
tion may  not  make  the  mistakes  their  fathers 
have  made. 

In  the  six  years  following  the  Boxer  uprising 
Christian  missions  in  China  have  received  an  un- 
precedented number  of  converts.  Over  fifty 
thousand  have  been  gathered  in  within  that 
time,   a  third  of  the    entire  Chinese   Christian 


96     BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

Church.  The  record  of  these  six  years  is  greater 
than  that  of  the  first  sixty  years  following  the  ar- 
rival of  Robert  Morrison  in  China.  In  1806 
when  he  entered  Canton,  he  was  opposed  by 
both  the  Chinese  and  foreign  tradesmen.  He 
lived  in  a  cellar.  A  curtain  had  to  be  hung  be- 
fore the  one  window  of  his  quarters  to  hide  the 
light  of  his  candle.  In  secrecy  he  learned  the 
language,  translated  the  Scriptures  and  produced 
that  stupendous  work,  the  dictionary  of  the 
Chinese  language.  When  after  six  years  of 
labour  he  had  the  joy  of  baptizing  his  first  con- 
vert, this,  too,  had  to  be  done  in  secret.  Upon 
the  mountain  side,  in  a  pool  made  by  the  moun- 
tain stream,  out  of  the  sight  and  hearing  of  men, 
he  baptized  into  the  name  of  the  Father,  Son  and 
Holy  Spirit,  the  first  Chinese  won  by  Protestant 
missions. 

Last  year  in  that  same  city  fifteen  hundred 
Chinese  Christians  met  together  and  pledged 
seven  thousand  and  five  hundred  dollars  towards 
the  erection  of  a  Morrison  memorial  building. 
One  hundred  years  has  wrought  the  change. 
Through  all  of  that  time  missionaries  have  been 
beating  away  at  the  seemingly  impregnable  walls 
of  China's  exclusiveness.  Men  and  women  have 
laid  themselves  down  upon  the  altar  of  service, 
laboured  and  died  for  China.  Before  that  un- 
ceasing attack  those  walls  have  crumbled  and 
fallen.     The  answer  to  a  hundred  years  of  prayer 


THE  NEW  AGE  IN  CHINA  97 

has  come  and  China  is  prepared  to  receive  the 
Gospel. 

*'  The  Lord  shall  sever  the  sea ; 
And  open  a  way  in  the  wilderness 
To  faith  that  follows,  to  feet  that  press 
On  into  the  great  To  Be. 
The  Lord  shall  sever  the  sea." 


IX 

WORKING  WITH  THE   NEW  ELEMENT 

ABOUT  the  time  that  the  ancient  system 
of  education  in  China  was  being  abol- 
ished by  the  government,  an  oppor- 
tunity presented  itself  for  opening  a  day-school 
in  Chu  Cheo.  Some  years  before  the  mission 
had  operated  a  school  in  that  city,  but  it  was  in 
the  days  when  the  Chinese  were  antagonistic  to 
all  things  foreign  and  the  pupils  who  came  to  the 
school  were  from  the  indigent  classes.  Even 
they  would  have  refused  to  come  had  not 
tuition,  books  and  schoolroom  equipment  been 
furnished  free.  It  would  have  been  found  im- 
possible to  have  introduced  into  the  school  mod- 
ern school  methods. 

The  conflicts  with  foreign  nations  in  which 
China  had  involved  herself,  together  with  the 
Russian-Japanese  War,  have  produced  a  com- 
plete change  in  the  attitude  of  many  Chinese  lead- 
ers. When  the  educational  edict  was  sent  out 
from  the  throne,  it  found  the  leaders  ready  to  re- 
ceive it.  We  would  have  had  as  great  difficulty 
in  opening  our  new  day-school  on  the  old  Chinese 
lines  as  would  have  been  experienced  in  the  first 

98 


THE  NEW  ELEMENT  99 

school  opened  there  had  the  missionaries  at- 
tempted at  that  time  to  introduce  modern 
methods. 

However,  we  found  another  stumbUng-block 
in  the  road.  The  Chinese  were  seeking  to  open 
modern  schools  for  themselves  and  were  not 
anxious  to  patronize  the  missionaries.  We  fur- 
nished a  building  in  an  attractive  manner  with 
blackboards  and  maps.  A  graduate  of  a  mis- 
sion college  was  obtained  as  teacher.  Adver- 
tisements were  posted  announcing  the  opening 
of  the  school  and  soliciting  students.  The 
teacher  occupied  the  building  for  a  half  month 
with  one  lone  pupil. 

Just  at  the  time  when  it  appeared  that  the 
school  would  be  a  failure  two  men,  twenty-five 
and  thirty  years  of  age,  paid  us  a  visit.  Mr. 
Djang  was  from  a  near-by  country  district. 
Young  as  he  was,  he  had  been  called  by  his  dis- 
trict to  the  place  of  chief  counsellor  or  elder.  He 
was  a  fine  example  of  what  a  strong  belief  in 
Confucian  ethics  can  do  for  a  man.  He  was  a 
perfect  gentleman.  Mr.  Hwang,  the  second 
man,  was  the  youngest  son  of  one  of  Chu  Cheo's 
wealthiest  homes.  Both  of  his  older  brothers  had 
successively  occupied  the  position  of  chief  coun- 
sellor in  the  town.  One  of  them  was  at  the  time 
connected  with  a  reform  newspaper.  The  entire 
family  are  in  sympathy  with  the  new  movement 
in  China  and  recendy  opened  in  their  own  home 


100    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

a  modern  day-school  in  which  boys  and  girls  are 
admitted  on  equal  basis. 

''  You  do  not  seem  to  be  able  to  obtain  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  children  for  your  day-school. 
What  would  you  think  of  our  enrolling  as  stu- 
dents ?  Your  teacher  is  capable  of  instructing  us 
in  modern  studies.  We  are  too  old  to  enter  our 
government  new  schools  and  yet,  if  we  are  to  re- 
tain our  places  as  leaders  in  this  new  era,  we  must 
become  conversant  with  western  learning,"  was 
the  plea  of  these  young  men  to  us. 

**You  can  yourself  see,"  they  continued  in 
their  earnestness,  *'that  we  cannot  continue  as 
leaders  unless  we  know  how  to  lead.  And  if  we 
do  not  continue  as  leaders,  China  will  become 
disordered  and  confused  and  fail  in  her  attempts 
to  reform.  We,  who  have  the  only  education 
China  has  ever  given  the  people,  must  lead  in 
the  search  for  modern  education.  We  need 
your  help.     Will  you  not  teach  us  ?  " 

It  was  a  new  plea  from  a  new  source.  Never 
before  had  the  educated  classes  expressed  any 
desire  to  learn  of  the  missionary.  These  young 
men  were  willing  to  pay  all  expenses,  see  to  their 
own  board  and  observe  any  necessary  regula- 
tions. We  did  not,  could  not,  refuse  such  a  plea 
and  thus  began  our  work  with  the  influential 
classes  in  our  district. 

Their  coming  at  once  attracted  attention  to 
file  school.     It  was  not  long  before  ten  young 


A  group  of  influential  Chinese  who  studied  with  the  authoi 


Chinese  school  children   at  the   Clui   Cheo   dispensary. 


THE  NEW  ELEMENT  101 

men  and  ten  children  were  enrolled.  It  was 
beyond  the  limit  of  one  teacher's  ability  to  handle 
such  a  school  and  we  were  compelled  to  take 
time  from  our  medical  and  evangelistic  work  and 
aid  in  this  new  field. 

The  question  of  religious  instruction  confronted 
us  from  the  beginning.  In  a  day-school  for  chil- 
dren the  day's  session  was  ordinarily  opened  with 
religious  exercises.  The  reading  of  the  Scrip- 
tures and  prayer  must  necessarily  be  an  important 
feature  as  we  are  primarily  in  China  to  Chris- 
tianize her  people.  But  these  young  men  were 
not  idolaters  but  atheists.  They  were  students 
of  Voltaire,  Huxley  and  Darwin.  Would  we  be 
able  to  win  them  to  Christ  by  arbitrarily  com- 
pelling them  to  daily  repeat  the  Lord's  prayer 
and  sing  hymns  ? 

"  When  one  does  not  know  what  to  do,  it  is 
better  to  wait."  We  studied  the  problem  and 
prayed  over  it.  Such  a  school  was  a  new  ven- 
ture and  had  no  precedent  by  which  it  could  be 
guided.  It  is  often  easier  to  drive  a  man  away 
from  Christ  than  to  win  him  to  Christ.  We 
wanted  to  win  them. 

It  was  surprising  how  the  subject  of  religion 
would  constantly  arise  in  the  class  room.  The 
young  men  were  in  an  enquiring  state  of  mind. 
In  the  study  of  geography  they  saw  that  where 
heathenism  reigned,  there  was  also  barbarism 
and  savagery.     In  those  countries  where  Christ 


102    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

was  being  exalted,  civilization  and  learning  were 
making  the  greatest  progress.  In  the  most 
natural  way  we  would  find  ourselves  discussing 
together  comparative  religions  and  the  relation 
between  religion  and  social  progress. 

Still  the  Scriptures,  as  such,  were  not  being 
recognized  in  the  school  and  we  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that,  to  be  true  to  our  mission,  the  Bible 
must  have  its  place  in  the  daily  work.  We  told 
them  that,  since  our  business  in  China  was  to 
preach  Christ,  we  could  not  carry  on  the  school 
unless  we  were  given  freedom  to  bring  the  Bible 
before  them.  We  did  not  wish  to  force  Chris- 
tianity upon  them  but  they  should  be  willing  to 
search  for  truth  wherever  it  might  be  found. 
We  would  recognize  it  when  found  in  their  Con- 
fucian classics.  They  should  be  willing  to  ac- 
cept it  when  found  in  the  Christian  Scriptures. 

The  first  effect  of  the  announcement  was  the 
shrinkage  of  the  class  of  young  men  from  ten  to 

three, — but  they  were  the  best  three.  The  others 
showed  a  greater  anxiety  to  be  popular  with 
their  fellow  men  than  to  become  leaders  of  the 
reform  movement.  Their  coming  into  the  school 
had  already  brought  down  upon  themselves  the 
taunt  of  following  the  foreigner.  If  it  should  be 
known  that  they  were  reading  the  foreigner's 
Bible,  the  situation  would  become  unbearable. 
So,  with  finely  veiled  excuses  for  absenting 
themselves,    they   withdrew  from    the    school 


THE  NEW  ELEMENT  103 

The  three  who  remained  included  the  two  men 
who  first  entered  the  school.  These  voluntarily 
drew  up  a  few  statements  in  which  they  ex- 
pressed themselves  willing  to  read  and  discuss 
the  Bible,  abstain  from  opium  and  wine  and  up- 
hold a  perfect  moral  standard  while  in  the 
school. 

So  began  our  battle  between  atheism  and 
Christianity.  Since  their  language  is  full  of 
classical  sayings,  they  found  wonderful  pleasure 
in  reading  the  book  of  the  Proverbs  and  com- 
paring their  own  pithy  sayings.  When  Genesis 
was  read  and  the  discussion  as  to  the  possibility 
and  probability  of  a  Creator  and  Guiding  Hand 
being  back  of  this  universe  was  introduced  for 
the  first  time  in  this  ministry,  we  were  called 
upon  to  prove  the  existence  of  a  God. 

Exodus  was  read  and  the  beginnings  of  law 
was  brought  to  their  attention.  Then  the  New 
Testament  was  searched  to  find  what  Christ  and 
Paul  had  to  say  on  the  same  subject.  When  the 
young  men  proposed  for  the  next  readings  a 
study  in  the  life  of  Christ,  we  felt  that  we  were 
gaining  ground. 

During  all  this  time  there  had  appeared  a  re- 
luctance on  the  part  of  the  young  men  to  attend 
the  church  services.  Those  who  have  been  won 
in  times  past,  have  been  largely  from  the  com- 
mon and  uneducated  class  of  Chinese.  The 
services  had  to  be  suited  to  their  understanding. 


104    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

These  educated  young  men  found  very  little  at- 
traction for  themselves  in  such  a  meeting. 

To  meet  this  difficulty  an  hour  on  Sunday 
mornings  was  set  apart  in  which  we  could  meet 
with  them  and  more  definitely  discuss  religious 
and  moral  questions.  They  willingly  prepared 
essays  on  idolatry,  pauperism,  ancestral  worship, 
the  existence  of  life  after  death,  the  existence  of 
God  and  kindred  subjects.  A  discussion  of  the 
paper  would  follow  and  sometimes  the  following 
Sunday  would  be  devoted  to  answering  some  of 
the  vital  questions  they  had  introduced. 

Once,  when  the  question  of  the  possibility  of 
the  origin  of  all  matter  by  chance  was  being  dis- 
cussed, we  told  them  that  if  they  could  persuade 
the  common  people  of  the  inertness  of  idols  and 
take  away  from  their  hearts  all  reverence  and  fear 
of  things  spiritual,  China  would  have  a  counterpart 
of  the  French  Revolution  within  her  borders.  Fear 
of  demons  does  more  to  hold  the  Chinese  people 
in  subj  ection  than  all  temporal  authority.  Let  that 
fear  be  removed,  and  worship  of  nothing  else  be 
substituted,  and  the  common  people  would  rise 
immediately  against  the  oppression  of  their  rulers. 
The  young  men  saw  the  logic  of  the  statement. 

"  Can  it  be,  then,"  they  asked,  *'  that  Christ 
saw  this  longing  of  the  human  heart  for  an  ob- 
ject of  worship,  this  longing  for  an  after  life  in 
which  rewards  and  punishments  would  be  justly 
meted  out,  and  so  originated  the  Christian  system 


THE  NEW  ELEMENT  105 

of  religion?"  They  soon  saw  the  utter  impos- 
sibility of  originating  false  history  without  its 
being  refuted  by  men  of  the  same  age.  In  a 
carefully  written  paper,  given  shortly  after,  they 
accepted  the  existence  of  life  after  death  and 
stepped  out  of  the  ranks  of  atheists. 

Meanwhile  they  were  invited  to  social  lunches 
and  parties  in  our  homes.  They  enjoyed  the 
foreign  doughnuts,  coffee  and  cake.  They  en- 
tered heartily  into  games  and  informally  dis- 
cussed sociology.  The  vision  of  educated.  Chris- 
tian womanhood  presiding  over  the  home  life 
made  a  strong  impression  upon  them.  They  en- 
tered into  conversation  with  missionary  mothers. 
Customs  in  regard  to  courtship  and  marriage 
were  discussed.  They  were  getting  acquainted 
with  women  whom  they  could  honour  and  re- 
spect. There  was  being  born  within  them  a 
hunger  to  be  pure  in  heart.  Social  purity  was 
being  placed  on  a  new  and  higher  basis.  That 
social  reform  should  become  a  part  of  China's 
new  era  had  not  impressed  them  before. 

They  sat  down  with  us  at  the  table.  They 
heard  the  blessing  of  God  asked  upon  the  meal. 
They  were  guests  at  a  table  around  which  were 
gathered  the  entire  family.  They  were  learning 
the  use  of  the  knife  and  fork.  At  the  same  time 
they  were  gaining  a  knowledge  of  home  life, 
which  was  vitalized  by  the  presence  of  God. 
They    saw    its   effects   in   ennobling   man   and 


106    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

woman,  in  beautifying  child  life.  They  had  been 
studying  Christianity  in  the  Scriptures.  They 
saw  its  supremacy  over  other  religious  systems 
demonstrated  in  the  missionary's  home. 

The  school  continued  for  two  years.  Other 
young  men  came  in  and  joined  the  three  who 
had  remained  with  the  school.  Those  who  had 
left  asked  to  be  allowed  to  reenter  but  the  time 
for  furlough  was  at  hand  and  the  school  had  to 
be  closed.  Had  we  effected  any  change  in  the 
life  and  thought  of  those  young  men  ?  We 
longed  to  know  and  one  day  asked  the  question, 
"  What  do  you  think  of  the  Scriptures  ?" 

''  We  find  no  fault  or  untruth  in  them,"  was 
the  unhesitating,  though  obscure,  Chinese  answer. 

'*  Do  you  believe  there  is  a  God?" 

Note  their  reply.  *'  We  have  not  seen  Him, 
nor  heard  His  voice.  But  we  know  there  must 
be  a  carpenter  back  of  a  table  or  chair.  We 
should  not  show  ourselves  to  have  wisdom  if,  in 
face  of  all  the  orderliness  and  harmony  in  this 
world,  we  did  not  believe  that  back  of  the  tree, 
the  summer  and  winter,  the  storm  and  the  sun- 
shine, the  swinging  of  the  worlds  in  space,  there 
is  a  Creator,  a  Great  Orderer." 

Not  long  ago  Mr.  Djang  said,  "  When  I  began 
studying  western  learning,  I  thought  that  that  was 
what  China  needed  to  become  like  other  nations. 
Now  I  know  that  the  Gospel  must  accompany 
the  learning  if  China  would  become  truly  great" 


SEEKING  FOR  STRAWS  OF  HOPE 

THERE  has  been  much  talk  in  the  past 
about  "  The  Light  of  Asia,"  and  the 
ethical  code  of  Confucius.  Men  have 
deplored  missionary  activity  among  the  Orientals, 
saying  that  they  had  religions  of  their  own  and 
it  was  not  right  to  force  an  alien  religion  upon 
them  ;  that  they  were  living  up  to  the  light  they 
have  and  would  probably  be  judged  by  that 
standard. 

The  fact  is  the  nations  of  the  Orient  are  not 
living  up  to  the  standard  of  their  religions  and 
they  themselves  keenly  realize  it.  They  have 
sinned  against  the  God  or  gods  revealed  to  them 
by  these  systems  of  religion  and,  being  without 
a  Redeemer,  have  found  themselves  without  a 
straw  of  hope. 

The  most  pathetic  thing  about  heathenism  is 
the  constant  groping  in  the  dark  for  some  way 
out  of  the  pit  into  which  sin  has  cast  them.  The 
failure  to  live  up  to  their  moral  standards  has 
brought  upon  them  an  abject  fear  of  demons, 
and  a  desperate  seeking  for  means  to  propitiate 
them.  Sickness,  drought,  famine,  fire,  flood  and 
death   itself,  are   believed   to  be  inflicted  upon 

107 


108    BREAKING  DOAVN  CHINESE  WALLS 

them  by  demoniacal  powers.  Their  religious  ac- 
tivities consist  in  being  careful  not  to  anger  the 
demons,  in  seeking  to  deceive  them,  trying  to 
ward  them  off  or  propitiate  them.  The  measures 
they  use  to  bring  about  these  ends  are  largely  of 
a  material  nature. 

Within  their  walled  cities  very  rarely  will  a 
street  run  directly  from  one  gate  through  the 
city  to  a  gate  on  the  opposite  side.  The  demons 
might  enter  a  gate  and,  sweeping  through  in  a 
straight  line,  entirely  destroy  the  place.  But  it 
is  supposed  that  they  are  unable  to  turn  sharp 
corners.  So  up  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  one 
street  ends  abruptly  against  a  solid  wall  and  one 
must  turn  a  sharp  angle  and  cross  to  another 
street  before  reaching  the  one  that  passes  out  the 
opposite  gate. 

The  people  erect  a  screen  just  within  the 
front  door  of  their  homes.  It  effectually  hides 
from  public  view  the  interior  of  the  home,  but, 
more  important,  it  furnishes  a  sharp  angle  as  a 
barrier  to  the  possible  entrance  of  evil  spirits. 
Upon  the  brick  chimney  of  their  cooking  range 
each  New  Year  they  paste  the  picture  of  the 
kitchen  god.  He  is  supposed  to  watch  over  the 
conduct  of  the  members  of  the  family.  He  sees 
all  their  wrangling,  hears  all  the  gossip  and 
knows  all  their  deeds,  good  and  evil.  At  the 
end  of  the  year  they  take  him  down  from  his 
place  and  burn  the  paper  upon  which  his  picture 


SEEKING  FOR  STEAAVS  OF  HOPE      109 

is  printed.  He  is  supposed  in  this  manner  to 
return  to  his  master  in  the  spirit  world  and  ren- 
der an  account  concerning  the  conduct  of  the 
household.  The  family  are  keenly  aware  of  the 
evil  record  they  have  made  and  so,  lest  the 
kitchen  god  tell  it  all,  they  take  a  little  honey  or 
molasses  and  smear  it  on  the  picture  over  his 
mouth.  This  will  compel  him  to  tell  a  sweet  tale 
about  their  actions  for  the  year. 

A  company  idly  enter  a  temple  and  sit  down 
to  gamble.  Lest  the  idol  see  them  doing  this 
evil  deed,  they  bind  a  cloth  about  his  eyes 
and  then  gamble  on  in  peace.  When,  after  long 
pleadings  and  many  offerings,  an  idol  does  not 
respond  to  the  request  of  the  worshipper,  the 
people  have  been  known  to  bore  a  hole  in  the 
back  of  the  idol  and  place  therein  a  live  scorpion 
to  wake  up  the  idol. 

A  little  baby  boy  coming  to  a  home  finds  a 
welcome.  Not  so  with  a  little  girl.  The  boy  is 
necessary  to  the  perpetuation  of  the  family  name. 
A  girl  goes  to  another  home  and  will  do  nothing 
to  continue  the  posterity  of  the  line  from  which 
she  has  sprung.  Hence  the  boy  is  looked  upon 
with  importance  and  the  girl  as  a  burden.  The 
Chinese  believe  the  powers  of  darkness  recognize 
this  distinction.  A  demon,  naturally,  when  strik- 
ing a  home  would  aim  at  the  most  vulnerable 
point.  The  boy  is  that  vulnerable  point.  So 
endeavour  is  made   to  deceive  the  demons  by 


110    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

disguising  the  boy  as  a  girl.  Girls  wear  ear- 
rings. Invariably  in  the  ear  of  the  first  born  boy 
is  hung  an  earring.  Sometimes  the  boy  is 
dressed  in  girl's  clothes  and  given  a  girl's  name. 

To  many  the  Chinese  worship  of  ancestors  and 
their  filial  piety  has  seemed  a  beautiful  ceremony. 
It  is  a  beautiful  ceremony^  but  it  is  not  much  more 
than  that.  In  most  cases  it  has  degenerated  to 
a  fear  lest  the  spirits  of  the  parents  come  back 
and  bring  calamities  upon  impious  children.  In 
the  spring-time  a  woman  goes  out  to  a  grave 
and  sitting  down  beside  it,  begins  to  weep  and 
lament.  There  is  no  sorrow  in  her  mourning. 
It  is  mere  form.  Men  burn  incense,  imitation 
money,  and  candles  at  the  graves  of  their  dead 
parents.  They  did  not  trouble  themselves  about 
the  wishes  of  their  parents  when  the  latter  were 
living.  They  would  not  worship  at  their  graves 
now,  did  they  not  fear  the  power  of  invisible 
spirits.  *'  The  letter  killeth  ;  it  is  the  spirit  that 
maketh  alive." 

There  are  uncounted  suicides  in  China.  They 
are  an  inheritance  from  Buddhism.  The  people 
have  been  taught  that  the  spirit  of  a  murdered 
man  can  come  back  and  curse  his  slayer.  Abuse 
or  outrage  a  person  in  life  and  calamity  will  fol- 
low the  culprit  after  the  death  of  the  injured 
party.  Women  whose  lives  have  been  made  un- 
bearable ;  men  who  have  been  trodden  under 
the  feet  of  one  stronger  ;  those  who  have  no  other 


SEEKING  FOR  STRAWS  OF  HOPE      Hi 

resource  for  redress  will  obtain  a  sufficient 
amount  of  opium  and,  going  to  the  door-step  of 
the  one  who  has  wronged  them,  publish  abroad 
the  wrong  committed  by  dying  there.  In  one 
city  of  five  thousand  people  in  one  year  there 
were  not  less  than  fifty  suicides.  The  misery  of 
their  present  lot  and  the  desire  for  revenge  so 
possesses  their  souls  that  even  the  fear  of  death 
is  lost.  What  a  commentary  upon  Oriental  re- 
ligions I 

The  retrogression  of  the  Chinese  nation  can 
be  traced  to  this  fear  of  demons.  Their  fathers 
followed  certain  customs  and  methods  and  the 
nation  was  prosperous.  Would  that  not  argue 
that  such  customs  and  methods  were  satisfactory 
to  the  powers  of  darkness  ?  It  were  safer  to  fol- 
low in  the  footsteps  of  their  fathers  than  to  ex- 
periment with  new  methods  which  might  arouse 
the  anger  of  demons.  Coal  mines,  railroads,  new 
machinery,  deepening  of  canal  beds,  all  are  un- 
tried operations  and  might  invite  calamity.  It 
were  wiser  to  abide  by  the  ancient  methods  than 
to  invite  disaster. 

This  fear  of  demons  has  made  China,  like  all 
heathen  countries,  a  breeding  ground  for  all 
manner  of  superstition,  quackery  and  exorcism. 
Fortune-tellers  and  charlatans  have  grown  rich 
by  playing  upon  the  imagination  of  the  people. 
The  locating  of  lucky  spots  for  graves,  the  direc- 
tion towards  which  the  front  door  of  the  home 


112    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

should  face,  the  determination  of  a  lucky  day 
upon  which  to  begin  a  journey  or  have  a  wed- 
ding, all  call  for  the  presence  of  such  men. 

Li  Hung  Chang,  great  a  man  as  we  have  con- 
sidered him,  when  he  wished  to  fix  the  location 
for  a  family  burying  ground,  appealed  to  a  for- 
tune-teller. The  inhabitants  of  a  near-by  market 
town  heard  of  the  matter.  They  saw  an  oppor- 
tunity to  aid  the  great  statesman  in  unloading 
a  part  of  his  enormous  wealth  and  made  a  league 
with  the  fortune-teller.  The  graveyard  was 
located  directly  across  the  main  road  leading 
into  their  market  town.  Li  Hung  Chang  bought 
the  spot  at  a  great  price.  Travellers  going  to 
the  market  town  must  now  make  a  circuit 
around  the  burying  ground  in  order  to  reach  the 
place,  but  the  city  elders  fattened  their  pocket- 
books  in  the  deal. 

In  one  home  to  which  the  charlatan  had 
been  called  to  locate  the  proper  burial  spot,  re- 
verses came  to  the  family  in  rapid  succession. 
They  called  back  the  man  and  since  he  had 
guaranteed  to  select  a  lucky  place,  demanded  of 
him  that  he  make  good  his  guarantee.  He  re- 
visited the  spot  and  made  farther  investigations. 
He  found  that  luck  had  departed  from  the  place 
since  he  had  selected  it  and  offered  to  find  a 
better  piece  of  ground, — for  a  consideration,  and 
the  family  paid  it. 

A  mother  is  deluded  into  the  belief  that  the 


SEEKING  FOR  STRAWS  OF  HOPE      113 

spirit  of  a  dead  babe  may  at  times  be  coaxed 
back  to  the  body  from  which  it  has  departed. 
In  the  evening  twilight  one  may  see  a  basket 
sitting  by  the  side  of  an  earth-god  shrine.  From 
a  httle  distance  away  the  voice  of  the  bereaved 
mother  comes  floating  to  our  ears.  "  Little 
Love,  come  back,  come  back."  The  basket 
contains  a  little  garment  and  some  appetizing 
food.  Will  not  the  sight  and  smell  of  things 
familiar  to  the  little  one  bring  it  back  to  its 
former  surroundings  and  cause  it  to  enter  the 
body  once  more?  Oh,  the  hopelessness  of  the 
heathen  mother's  cry  ! 

There  came  to  a  Chinese  home  three  girls  in 
succession.  They  longed  for  a  boy.  What 
heathen  home  does  not  ?  The  fourth  baby  came 
and  their  cup  of  happiness  was  full,  for  it  was  a 
boy.  The  many-coloured  eggs,  announcing  the 
happy  event  and  calling  for  the  congratulations 
of  the  neighbours,  were  sent  to  every  home  on 
the  street.  The  baby  grew  for  six  months  into 
a  fat  chubby  boy,  then  suddenly  it  died.  There 
was  a  world  of  helpless  despair  in  the  voice  of 
the  father  as  he  took  the  beloved  little  form  into 
his  arms  and  wailed  out  his  woe.  "  Oh,  my 
flesh,  my  bone,  my  life,  my  baby  boy !  " 

In  the  darkness  of  the  night  he  took  the  little 
body  and  buried  it  without  a  single  funeral  rite. 
He  believed  a  demon  had  come  to  his  home  and 
cursed  it.     After  that  first  cry  of  anguish  he  went 


114    BEEAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

on  with  his  business  and  no  word  of  the  loss  could  be 
drawn  from  his  lips.  How  could  he  do  otherwise? 
He  stood  in  abject  fear  lest  the  demon  should 
return  and  bring  other  calamity  upon  his  home. 

This  fear  of  demons  explains  the  inordinate 
love  of  the  Chinese  for  wealth.  Wealth  and 
happiness  with  him  are  synonymous.  Why 
should  they  not  be  ?  With  money  he  can  buy 
up  opportunities  for  graft.  He  can  purchase 
official  position.  He  can  distort  justice  and 
escape  punishment.  He  can  build  about  his 
home  and  life  a  wall  that  will  keep  out  retribu- 
tion, the  inquisitiveness  of  official  parasites  and 
even  the  swift  and  terrifying  vengeance  of  a 
united  clan  of  poorer  folk. 

Considering  that  hell  is  very  similar  in  organi- 
zation to  the  Chinese  yamen,  why  can  he  not 
purchase  his  way  through  purgatory  and  make 
a  final  escape  into  the  realms  of  eternal  bliss  ? 
When  one  becomes  so  great  as  a  viceroy  or 
prince  he  may  even  buy  from  the  emperor  the 
title  of  a  god  and  not  only  escape  any  possible 
punishment  in  the  after  world  but  at  once  be 
raised  to  a  position  of  honour  and  power  where 
he  may  still  farther  influence  the  destiny  of  men 
who  live  after  him.  Then  get  money  and,  while 
getting  it,  get  plenty.  So  the  Chinese  learn  to 
walk  over  the  prostrate  forms  of  their  brothers 
for  gold  and  make  suffering-stricken  humanity 
a  ladder  by  which  they  may  ascend  to  heaven  itself. 


SEEKING  FOR  STRAWS  OF  HOPE      115 

In  the  face  of  these  time-honoured  customs 
and  ingrained  beUefs,  it  has  been  a  superhuman 
task  to  impress  the  Chinese  with  the  value  of  a 
better  way.  Yet  the  changes  now  taking  place 
in  the  empire  show  it  not  to  be  an  impossible 
task.  The  missionary  has  been  compelled  to 
recognize  the  attitude  of  the  people  towards  their 
religious  beliefs.  He  has  had  to  acknowledge 
his  own  inability  to  change  the  conditions. 
Nothing  short  of  the  power  of  God  could  have 
broken  down  these  Chinese  walls.  It  required 
the  constant  manifestation  of  that  infinite  power 
in  the  living  missionary  to  affect  the  wonderful 
ends  attained. 

Missionary  homes,  erected  for  comfort  and 
convenience,  unhampered  by  superstitious  dread 
of  danger  hovering  about  changes  in  archi- 
tecture; haunted  and  unlucky  buildings  of 
their  own,  rented  by  missionaries  and  success- 
fully used  for  chapels  and  schools,  have  made 
the  people  doubt  the  power  of  evil  spirits.  Land 
for  Chinese  Christian  cemeteries  has  been  pur- 
chased without  the  aid  of  the  fortune-teller. 
Lectures  in  chemistry,  experiments  with  elec- 
trical apparatus,  modern  surgery  and  medicine, 
the  use  of  the  microscope,  have  revealed  to  the 
Chinese  hitherto  undreamed  of  forces  with  which 
demons  have  no  relationship  and  have  proven 
master  agencies  in  obtaining  a  favourable  hear- 
ing for  Christianity. 


XI 

DO  THE   CHINESE  CONVERTS  MAKE  SINCERE 
CHRISTIANS 

TWO  mistakes  are  being  made  concern- 
ing the  type  of  Chinese  who  compose 
the  rank  and  file  of  converts.  For- 
eigners who  are  unfriendly  towards  Christian 
missions  declare  that  there  is  not  a  sincere  Chi- 
nese Christian  convert,  while  supporters  of  Chris- 
tian missions  have  received  an  impression  that  a 
convert  from  heathenism  becomes  at  once  a  stead- 
fast, enthusiastic,  spirit-filled  follower  of  Jesus 
Christ.     Both  parties  are  wrong. 

Opposers  of  Christian  work  in  China  are  found 
among  steamship  officers,  keepers  of  hotels  and 
other  business  men  whose  own  lives  are  inimical 
to  Christianity.  These  men  disparage  the  work 
of  missionaries  and  say  that  they  are  living  lux- 
uriously in  fine  houses  and  doing  more  harm 
among  the  natives  than  good.  Many  sincere 
Christian  business  men  are  found  in  the  mercan- 
tile centres  of  China  who  are  loyal  supporters  of 
mission  work,  but  it  is  a  sad  commentary  on 
civilization  that  large  numbers,  who  leave  their 
own  lands  to  engage  in  business  in  the  Orient, 
have  gone  into  voluntary  banishment  from  their 

ii6 


CHINESE  CONVERTS  117 

native  lands,  because  their  evil  lives  made  living 
among  old  associates  obnoxious.  The  spirit  of 
restless  adventure  has  led  them  to  seek  a  place 
where  they  might  cast  morality  to  the  winds. 
The  influence  of  these  men  among  the  heathen 
is  one  of  the  worst  obstacles  against  which  mis- 
sionaries must  batde.  It  is  not  strange  that  such 
men  see  nothing  in  Christian  missions  worthy  of 
their  approval. 

But  have  Christians  in  the  home  land  the  right 
to  expect  that  a  Christian  born  out  of  heathenism 
shall  at  once  become  a  perfect  moral  character, 
an  achievement  which  has  been  found  impossible 
of  accomplishment  even  among  converts  in  civ- 
ilized lands  ?  Back  of  the  American  extends  a 
long  line  of  Christian  ancestry  reaching  into  the 
dim  past.  Back  of  the  Chinese  convert  is  a  clear 
line  traceable  many  times  farther,  a  line  per- 
petually enshrouded  in  paganistic  darkness. 
Surrounding  the  convert  from  heathenism  are 
gathering  still  idolatrous  influences,  holding  him 
down  and  clouding  his  mind  and  heart.  The 
new  Christian  in  America  finds  himself  sur- 
rounded with  all  the  elevating  influences  of  a 
Christian  nation.  Let  us  be  just  to  the  Christian 
born  out  of  heathenism  and  not  expect  too  great 
a  change  in  him  at  first. 

Physicians  say  the  proper  way  to  treat  a  sick 
person  is  to  have  begun  with  his  grandparents. 
A  missionary  acknowledges  the  same  truth  in 


118    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALI^ 

the  laws  of  heredity,  when  he  speaks  of  the 
superiority  of  a  second  and  third  generation 
Christian  over  one  just  born  out  of  heathenism. 

When  a  Chinese  has  been  enrolled  in  the 
membership  of  the  church,  he  has  merely  placed 
himself  in  a  position  in  which  he  may  begin  to 
imbibe  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel.  He  is  giving  the 
missionary  an  opportunity  to  mould  another  dis- 
torted life  into  the  image  of  Christ.  The  new 
Christian  must  be  fed  as  a  babe.  The  mission- 
ary is  given  access  to  his  home  and  family.  The 
connection  between  religion  and  life  can  be 
taught  him.  Clean  language,  kindness  towards 
one's  children,  parents,  wife  and  servants  ;  the 
value  of  prayer  and  family  worship,  of  rest  on 
the  Lord's  day  and  worship  with  His  people ;  the 
education  of  children,  necessity  of  living  at  peace 
with  one's  neighbours  ;  all  these  lessons  can  now 
be  taught  to  the  new  convert  with  the  possibility 
of  his  seeking  to  do  them. 

To  the  medical  missionary  comes  the  privilege 
of  instructing  the  new  babe  in  Christ  concerning 
the  desirability  of  observing  the  laws  of  hygiene, 
sanitation,  quarantine  and  preservation  of  health. 
These  whose  lives  have  been  so  evil  must  needs 
be  rebuked  many  times  in  regard  to  gambling, 
graft,  lying,  stealing  and  quarrelling  with  neigh- 
bours. They  must  be  taught  social  purity  and 
enlightened  upon  the  grace  of  giving.  Over  and 
over  must  these  lessons  be  given.     In  summer 


CHINESE  CONVERTS  119 

heat  and  winter  cold,  on  the  road,  in  the  home 
and  in  the  Lord's  house  must  the  missionary  be 
instant  in  season  and  out  of  season,  rebuking,  ex- 
horting and  encouraging.  It  is  so  hard  for  them 
to  connect  conduct  and  rehgion,  to  understand 
that  Christliness  is  living  like  Christ. 

The  miracle  of  missions  is  that  some  so  early 
grasp  the  essence  of  the  Gospel  and  become 
spirit-filled  followers  of  Christ  On  the  other 
hand,  the  thing  that  breaks  the  missionary's 
heart  is  to  see  some  one,  for  whom  he  has 
laboured  so  long  and  suffered  so  much,  some  one, 
who  for  a  while  seemed  to  catch  the  Spirit  of 
Christ,  reveal  himself  in  the  end  as  an  arch  de- 
ceiver and  rush  back  into  the  old  life  of  sin  and 
again  become  openly  what  he  had  been  all  the 
time  secretly. 

Again  we  repeat  it.  The  miracle  of  modern 
missions  is  that  so  many  grasp  the  essence  of  the 
Gospel  and  become  living  examples  of  the  power 
of  Christ  to  transform  man.  How  often  during 
the  dark  hours  of  the  Boxer  trouble  did  this  fact 
stand  out  illuminated  in  the  martyrdom  of  some 
Chinese  Christian.  The  bowing  before  an  idol, 
the  burning  of  a  stick  of  incense,  the  lighting  of 
a  candle  in  the  temple  would  have  saved  lives, 
but  men  died  rather  than  compromise  with  idol- 
atry. They  were  bound  and  cast  into  graves. 
They  were  buried  by  inches  but  they  held  fast  to 
their  faith.     They  stood  calmly  by  while  their 


120    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

relatives  and  friends  were  beheaded  and  went 
calmly  down  to  death  with  a  prayer  on  their  lips. 
Their  enemies  stood  amazed  at  their  steadfast- 
ness. When  Christians  might  have  escaped 
they  turned  back  to  warn  the  beloved  mission- 
aries. When  left  alone  at  their  posts  the  evan- 
gelists and  preachers  went  on  encouraging  and 
strengthening  the  trembling  church.  Enemies 
loitered  in  and  told  them  that  to-morrow  the 
buildings  would  be  burned  and  their  lives  taken. 
Their  characteristic  answer  would  be,  "I  have 
lived  in  the  church  and  it  will  make  a  good  coffin 
in  which  to  die." 

This  same  steadfastness  has  been  manifest  all 
through  the  history  of  mission  work  in  China. 
Up  near  Hankow  a  weaver,  while  sick  in  the 
mission  hospital,  learned  of  Christ  and  followed 
Him.  He  went  back  to  his  brothers  and  told 
them  of  his  new  faith.  They  stormed,  plead  and 
threatened  but  he  refused  to  leave  Christ.  They 
compelled  him  to  do  his  full  quota  of  weaving, 
hoping  to  hinder  his  attendance  upon  worship 
and  wean  him  from  his  new  life.  He  worked  his 
loom  until  midnight  on  Saturday,  walked  a  long 
distance  on  Sunday  morning  and  returned  to  his 
loom  at  midnight  Sunday  in  order  to  do  his 
share  of  the  weaving.  The  neighbours  advised 
him  to  leave  his  brothers  and  offered  their  homes 
as  an  asylum.  He  refused  their  kind  offer  and 
kept  at  his   self-appointed   task.     **  If  I   leave 


CHINESE  CONVERTS  121 

them,"  he  said,  **  they  will  never  become  fol- 
lowers of  Christ."  In  ten  years  he  had  won  the 
last  one  of  them  and  then  they  turned  to  him  and 
said,  **  You  go  out  and  preach  and  we  will  sup- 
port you." 

We  opened  in  Chu  Cheo  a  chapel  on  a  main 
thoroughfare  and  discovered  after  it  had  been 
rented  that  we  were  directly  opposite  a  black- 
smith shop.  The  fronts  of  both  buildings  being 
entirely  open  to  the  street,  the  pounding  on  the 
anvil  on  the  one  side  made  preaching  on  the 
other  very  difficult.  We  wondered  if  we  had 
made  a  mistake  in  renting  the  place.  Very 
grateful  were  we  when  at  times  the  pounding 
would  cease  and  the  blacksmith  would  be  seen 
sitting  on  the  benches  listening  to  the  preaching. 
After  two  years  we  gave  up  the  place  and  rented 
one  situated  in  a  better  location.  The  only 
person  directly  won  by  the  two  years  of  preach- 
ing in  the  place  was  the  blacksmith  himself. 
He  began  working  quietly  among  his  neigh- 
bours. They,  too,  had  often  sat  and  listened  to 
our  preaching.  He  gathered  them  into  his  shop 
for  an  evening  reading  of  the  Scriptures.  When 
he  could  persuade  his  assistants  to  come,  he 
would  bring  them  to  the  Sunday  services.  At 
the  call  for  volunteer  street  preachers  he  was  al- 
ways ready  to  respond.  A  number  of  his  neigh- 
bours have  already  confessed  their  faith  in  Christ. 

One  morning  while  we  were  holding  worship 


122    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

with  the  hospital  patients  and  servants,  a  young 
man  rushed  in  and  disturbed  the  worship.  A 
severe  attack  of  fever  had  deranged  his  mind 
and  left  him  temporarily  insane.  His  parents 
were  unable  to  control  him.  There  are  no 
asylums  in  China  for  such  unfortunates.  Hea- 
thenism is  not  philanthropic.  As  long  as  he 
harmed  no  one  he  went  where  he  pleased.  One 
who  becomes  violently  insane  is  shackled  and 
chained.  This  young  man  became  the  sport  for 
children  upon  the  street.  They  would  follow 
him,  jeering  at  him  and  pelting  him  with  sticks 
and  mud.  Chinese  would  drive  him  from  their 
doors  with  curses.  He  would  come  into  our 
medical  assistants'  room  and  slyly  make  away 
with  pencils  and  pens.  They  bore  with  him 
patiently  and  treated  him  gently. 

When  he  recovered  his  mind  he  did  not  forget 
the  treatment  he  had  received,  either  from  the 
heathen  or  the  Christians.  He  asked  our  serv- 
ants to  buy  some  Christian  literature  for  him  and 
invited  them  to  the  place  where  he  worked. 
One  Christmas  day  one  of  them  came  to  us 
with  the  request  that  a  Mr.  Wang  wished  to  be 
baptized. 

"But  who  is  Mr.  Wang?" 

"  Don't  you  remember,"  they  said,  "  that 
crazy  fellow  who  used  to  come  in  and  disturb  our 
meetings?" 

Yes,  we  remembered  him.     But  had  he  recov- 


CHINESE  CONVERTS  123 

ered  and  did  he  know  anything  about  what  be- 
coming a  Christian  means  ? 

This  is  the  answer  he  gave  us.  "  When  I  was 
sick,  I  received  very  different  treatment  from  the 
Christians  than  I  did  from  my  own  friends.  I 
knew  it  then  and  have  not  forgotten  it  now. 
Since  I  have  recovered,  I  have  been  studying 
your  Bible  iot  I  thought  if  becoming  a  Christian 
means  to  treat  people  the  way  you  treated  me, 
I  wanted  to  become  one." 

Upon  the  day  on  which  we  commemorate  the 
birth  of  our  Lord,  Mr.  Wang  was  buried  in  bap- 
tism with  his  Master  and  made  the  day  his  birth- 
day in  the  new  life.  Little  did  we  suppose  that 
we  would  be  able  to  win  a  soul  by  being  gentle 
towards  one  thus  deranged. 

In  the  Nanking  Christian  College  there  was  a 
young  man  who,  while  a  member  of  the  church, 
was  careless  about  his  religious  life  and  work  in 
school.  His  teachers  looked  upon  him  as  one  of 
the  hopeless  ones.  He  had  plenty  of  ability  but 
little  ambition. 

Dr.  Li,  a  Chinese  whose  soul  is  filled  with  the 
burning  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  has  been  in 
recent  days  going  up  and  down  the  Yangtse 
valley  stirring  the  Church  and  imparting  to  them 
a  knowledge  of  what  Christ  can  do  in  the  Chinese 
Christian.  He  came  to  Nanking  and  for  two 
weeks  gathered  the  students  of  the  various  col- 
leges into  daily  meetings.     One  of  the  first  stirred 


124    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

by  the  preaching  of  Dr.  Li  was  this  heretofore 
careless  student.  He  surrendered  himself  to  God 
and  went  to  work.  He  went  to  his  non-Christian 
parents  and  plead  with  them  until  he  broke  them 
down  and  won  them  to  Christ. 

In  the  college  he  began  with  a  small  group  of 
the  students  and  became  their  leader.  They 
stirred  the  school.  The  spirit  spread  to  the 
Christian  Girls'  School,  resulting  in  the  conver- 
sion of  a  number  but,  more  important,  trans- 
formed the  life  of  the  entire  student  body.  They 
banded  themselves  still  closer  together  and  went 
out  on  the  streets  and  in  the  chapels  on  Sundays 
preaching  the  Gospel. 

When  the  summer  vacation  came  they  planned 
a  more  far-reaching  campaign.  Instead  of 
spending  the  time  teaching  private  classes  in 
western  studies  and  earning  money  for  them- 
selves, they  went  out,  two  by  two,  to  all  the  sta- 
tions and  outstations  within  reach  carrying  the 
inspiration  to  other  bands. 

The  girls  likewise  visited  places  within  their 
reach  and  came  back  bearing  witness  of  the  ac- 
companying, protecting  power  of  God  with  them 
in  the  ministry.  Men  and  women  were  led  to 
confess  hidden  sins  they  had  been  harbouring. 
Timid  disciples  of  the  Master  caught  the  fire  and 
became  active  witnesses  for  Him.  This  revival 
in  the  Yangtse  valley  is  only  one  of  many  that 
have  been  taking  place  all  over  China.     Dr.  Li, 


CHINESE  CONVERTS  125 

the  evangelist,  revealed  to  those  students  a  con- 
ception of  Christianity  which  the  missionaries 
had  been  unable  to  impart,  but  even  beyond  the 
work  he  did,  before  the  local  circles  were 
reached,  God  stirred  a  careless  young  student  to 
action. 

Many  more  illustrations  will  appear  elsewhere 
showing  the  reality  of  Christianity  among  the 
Chinese.  Remember,  however,  when  meditating 
upon  them,  that  human  nature  is  everywhere  the 
same.  Other  things  being  equal,  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  operates  upon  the  heart  of  a 
Chinese,  Hindoo,  German,  Englishman,  or 
American  in  practically  the  same  manner  and 
with  the  same  results.  Be  the  skin  of  a  man 
white,  black  or  yellow,  love  finds  the  same  re- 
sponse from  each  heart.  The  Gospel,  giving  the 
hope  of  eternal  life,  belongs  to  them  alike  and 
will,  when  presented  in  the  spirit  of  Christ,  find 
a  like  reception  from  them  all. 


XII 

MY  "  TIMOTHY  " 

WHEN  we  first  went  to  China  we  were 
impressed  with  the  wisdom  of  finding 
a  Chinese  who,  by  reason  of  close  as- 
sociation with  us,  could  accurately  represent  to 
his  fellow  countrymen  our  mission  to  and  desire 
for  them.  He  would  save  us  many  mistakes  and 
correct  many  erroneous  impressions  concerning 
us  that  might  spring  up  in  their  minds.  We 
were  so  strongly  influenced  by  the  thought  that 
we  were  led  to  pray  most  earnestly  to  have  such 
an  one  led  to  us, — and  Chen  Li-seng  came. 

He  had  been  a  Chinese  pedagogue  for  nine 
years.  He  was  of  the  '*  old  school "  type.  The 
children  who  had  sat  at  his  feet  had  committed 
the  Classics  to  memory  in  the  same  ancient 
stereotyped  way  that  their  ancestors  had  done 
a  thousand  years  before.  Chen  himself  was  a 
first  degree  graduate,  could  repeat  the  thirteen 
classical  books  from  memory,  write  essays  and 
compose  poems.  In  these  accomplishments  he 
was  the  same  as  all  his  fellow  literati. 

But  in  other  things  he  was  strangely  different 
from  most  of  them.  He  was  a  consistent  be- 
liever in  and  follower  of  Confucius.     He  sought 

126 


MY  "TIMOTHY"  127 

to  copy  the  ancient  sage  in  his  standard  of  mo- 
rality. He  was  a  filial  son  and  a  worshipper  of 
his  ancestors.  He  did  not  gamble,  accept  bribes, 
or  smoke  opium.  He  did  not  believe  in  the  wor- 
ship of  idols  yet  could  not  explain  the  occult 
power  that  seemed  to  dwell  within  their  inani- 
mate forms.  Chen  was  one  of  those  isolated  ex- 
amples found  among  the  heathen,  "  a  seeker  after 
righteousness"  ;  yet  he  was  satisfied  that  he  was 
receiving  a  full  measure  of  righteousness  in  his 
imitating  of  the  high  moral  standard  laid  down 
by  the  great  teacher  Confucius. 

To  Chen  a  man  who  accepted  the  foreign 
doctrine  of  Christianity,  was  merely  seeking  the 
''  loaves  and  fishes."  He  despised  such  even  as  he 
despised  the  foreigners.  Before  he  came  to  us  as 
a  teacher,  he  had  never  conversed  with  a  for- 
eigner and  never  had  had  a  desire  to  do  so.  He 
had  never  seen  a  Bible  or  been  inside  a  chapel. 
Two  things  led  him  to  consent  to  become  our 
teacher ;  the  regularity  of  the  pay-day  and  a 
growing  desire  which  he  shared  with  all  edu- 
cated Chinese,  to  know  something  of  things 
western. 

Now  a  missionary  must  not  only  learn  to 
speak  the  Chinese  language  but  more  important 
than  that,  he  must  become  thoroughly  conver- 
sant with  Chinese  customs  and  be  able  to  adapt 
himself  to  them  if  he  would  win  the  people.  Un- 
less the  confidence  of  the  teacher  is  gained,  he 


128    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

will  not  readily  explain  their  customs,  as  these 
are  very  closely  entwined  about  the  heart  of 
every  follower  of  Confucius.  The  missionary, 
finding  these  customs  so  antipodal  to  those 
which  have  surrounded  his  life,  is  liable  to  make 
light  of  the  Chinese  ways  and  manners  and  lose 
the  confidence  of  his  teacher  before  he  fairly 
gains  it.  So  the  contact  with  the  man  who  sits 
daily  across  the  table  from  the  new  missionary  is 
a  vital  matter.  The  whole  future  usefulness  of 
the  new  recruit  on  the  mission  field  will  be  af- 
fected by  his  attitude  towards  his  Chinese 
teacher. 

We  became  the  pupils  of  Chen  Li-seng.  He 
did  not  know  a  word  of  English,  nor  we  a  word 
of  Chinese.  Kind  friends  helped  us  over  the  dif- 
ficult places  for  a  few  days.  A  dictionary,  the 
fruit  of  the  experience  of  missionaries  for  a  cen- 
tury back,  was  at  our  elbow.  Mr.  Chen  wrote 
simple  conversations  upon  every-day  practical 
subjects,  then  slowly  read  them  to  us  and  we  re- 
peated them  after  him.  He  was  the  first  Chinese 
we  ever  understood  and  the  first  to  understand 
us. 

When  we  had  progressed  a  little  in  the  use  of 
the  language  he  took  us  to  the  street,  to  stores, 
into  shops.  We  called  upon  the  high  classes  and 
talked  with  the  low.  We  conversed  with  masons 
and  carpenters,  he  ever  helping  us  over  the  rough 
places.     He  wrote  contracts  for  us,  cleared  up 


MY  "TIMOTHY''  129 

misunderstandings  between  us  and  the  servants 
and  formed  the  first  reUgious  expressions  we 
made  in  the  Chinese  language.  Everywhere  he 
was  at  our  side,  correcting,  interpreting,  guard- 
ing us  against  pitfalls. 

It  was  a  long  while  before  we  began  to  dimly 
realize  that  he  was  the  one  whom  God  was  lead- 
ing to  us  in  answer  to  our  prayer.  He  had 
shown  himself  in  many  ways  to  be  unfavourable 
to  Christianity.  Not  till  long  afterwards  did  we 
find  the  reason  for  his  treating  it  so  fairly  and 
studying  it  so  carefully.  He  attended  the  serv- 
ices on  Lord's  Days,  often  was  present  at 
prayer-meetings,  and  would  willingly  and  lucidly 
aid  our  stammering  tongues  in  explaining  the 
Gospel  to  visitors  who  came  to  call  on  us. 

At  times  he  was  led  to  speak  very  strongly 
against  evils  which  were  degrading  and  demoral- 
izing his  country.  The  forcing  of  the  opium 
traffic  upon  China  by  the  English  rankles  in 
every  Chinese  heart  and  Chen  was  a  Chinese. 
Nevertheless,  he  would  with  equal  force  denounce 
the  grafting  in  their  official  circles  and  the  too 
flagrant  cases  of  miscarriage  of  justice  for  which 
their  courts  are  notorious. 

Yet  he  believed  there  were  other  men  like  him- 
self who  were  living  high  moral  lives  and  he 
would  resent  the  wholesale  condemnation  of  their 
nation  by  unwise  evangelists.  **  I  have  been 
with  you  for  a  year  and  a  half.     Have  /wronged 


130    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

you  in  any  way  ?  '*  He  gloried  in  his  morality 
and  to  class  him  with  the  degenerate  of  China 
wounded  his  proud  spirit. 

But  his  next  question  startled  us  and  showed 
that,  after  all  his  pride  in  a  moral  character,  the 
leaven  of  the  Gospel  was  working  within  his 
heart.  **  Suppose  a  man  secretly  beUeves  in 
Christ  as  his  Saviour.  Must  he  be  an  avowed 
follower  to  be  saved  ?  " 

"  If  a  man  really  believes  in  Jesus  Christ  as 
his  Saviour,  he  cannot  be  a  secret  follower.  He 
cannot  help  speaking."  Ah,  there  is  a  vital 
energy  in  Christianity  not  to  be  found  in  Con- 
fucian ethics  and  the  difference  was  dawning  upon 
him. 

We  began  to  call  his  attention  to  what  it  means 
for  an  educated  Chinese  to  follow  Christ.  He 
would  be  despised  and  rejected  from  fellow- 
ship by  all  his  fellow  literati.  He  could  not  take 
a  step  which  would  bring  greater  anguish  to  his 
parents.  For  one  of  his  rank  to  become  a  Chris- 
tian would  as  greatly  wound  his  father  as  for  an 
American  father  to  see  his  boy  become  a  gam- 
bler, drunkard  and  criminal.  All  this  we  told 
Chen. 

"  These  things  will  not  deter  me  if  I  come  to 
believe  in  Him  as  my  Saviour."  And  yet  when, 
in  his  heart,  he  began  to  acknowledge  that 
Christ  might  be  just  that  to  him,  it  did  deter 
him.     Could    he  break  over  the  traditions  of 


MY  "TIMOTHY"  131 

China  and  become  such  an  unfilial  son  as  to  thus 
wound  his  parents  ?  It  took  many  days  to  fight 
out  the  battle. 

"  I  will  obey  my  Lord  first  and  then  go  to  my 
parents.  My  Lord  must  come  first  now."  That 
was  his  decision. 

Standing  in  the  baptismal  waters  he  made  the 
great  confession.  "  From  my  heart  I  believe 
Jesus  Christ  to  be  the  Son  of  God  and  my 
Saviour."  Then  he  went  home  to  receive  not 
the  blessing  but  the  chastisement  of  terribly 
wounded  parents.  He  accepted  it  all  humbly 
and  patiently  although  it  tore  his  heart  almost  as 
much  as  theirs  were  torn.  Then  to  show  them 
the  sincerity  of  his  profession  and  the  change  in 
his  heart,  he  began  sending  home  as  a  Christian 
more  money  than  he  had  as  a  Confucianist. 

One  day  he  told  us  why  he  had  been  led  to 
consider  Christianity  so  carefully.  '*  I  was  daily 
living  within  the  walls  of  your  home.  I  saw  the 
regard  with  which  you  and  your  wife  treated 
each  other.  Your  wife  is  educated.  She  is  your 
equal.  You  recognize  her  equality  and  love 
reigns  in  your  home.  We  have  nothing  like  that 
in  our  Chinese  homes.  So  I  have  been  studying 
the  Scriptures  to  see  if  it  were,  as  you  said,  the 
natural  fruitage  of  Christianity,  for  I  long  to  have 
such  a  home.  It  has  led  me  to  accept  Christ  for 
myself  and  the  home  I  hope  to  have." 

He  had  been  married  just  after  coming  to  us 


132    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

as  a  teacher.  His  wife  was  ten  years  his  junior, 
only  seventeen  at  the  time,  and  had  had  very 
little  experience  to  guide  her  in  the  new  life  into 
which  she  was  thrown.  She  had  not  been  asked 
whether  she  would  **  love,  honour  and  obey  "  this 
man  to  whose  home  she  was  carried.  Neither 
had  Chen  been  given  any  voice  in  the  matter. 
He  took  what  was  chosen  for  him  "  sight  unseen." 
He  might  have  been  a  little  more  careful  about 
the  matter,  had  he  caught  his  glimpse  of  a  Chris- 
tian home  earlier. 

Since  he  was  living  away  from  his  parents' 
home  at  the  time  of  his  marriage,  he,  according 
to  Chinese  custom,  left  his  wife  in  the  home  of 
his  parents.  His  mother  was  above  the  average 
woman  in  character,  but  she  and  the  new  bride 
did  not  harmonize  well  in  disposition  and  it 
looked  as  though  he  would  be  handicapped  from 
the  first  in  his  desire  to  build  up  a  happy  home. 
He  was  educated.  She  was  illiterate.  Both 
were  somewhat  refined  in  nature  as  their  homes 
were  of  the  better  class  of  people.  But  he  was 
now  a  Christian  and  she  was  a  heathen. 

He  rented  a  place  in  Chu  Cheo,  furnished  it  as 
well  as  he  was  able  and  brought  his  wife  to  the 
new  home.  He  began  teaching  her  to  read  and 
treated  her  kindly.  It  was  really  his  first  oppor- 
tunity to  become  acquainted  with  her.  Under 
his  gentle  care  and  guidance  she  developed  won- 
derfully.    In  six   months   great  was  his  joy  to 


MY  "TIMOTHY'^  133 

have  her  express  a  desire  to  also  become  a  fol- 
lower of  Jesus  Christ.  Now  there  were  two,  who 
were  seeking  to  make  a  home  beautiful. 

For  four  years  he  had  been  teaching  us.  He 
had  gone  into  the  dispensary  and  hospital  where 
he  not  only  aided  us  in  speech,  but  his  willing 
hands  had  washed  and  dressed  the  ulcers,  given 
anesthetics  and  prepared  medicines.  He  had 
taken  his  turn  in  teaching  and  preaching  to  the 
patients.  When  we  went  on  itineraries,  he  often 
accompanied  us  and  in  the  market  towns  would 
step  into  the  difficult  places  and  aid  us  in  making 
friends.  He  taught  in  the  Sunday-school  and 
sometimes  would  stand  in  the  pulpit.  He  was 
becoming  a  true  "  Timothy.'* 

Every  Chinese  seems  born  with  a  desire  to 
gain  riches.  Tradition  has  instilled  into  their 
minds  that  if  there  is  any  possibility  of  obtaining 
happiness  in  this  world  or  the  next,  money  will 
obtain  it.  Happiness  and  wealth  are,  therefore, 
synonymous  in  the  popular  mind. 

Chen  saw  many  avenues  through  which  he,  as 
a  Christian,  might  legitimately  prosper.  He  had 
studied  western  learning  ever  since  coming  to  us. 
He  had  gained  a  considerable  knowledge  of 
modern  medicine.  He  could  take  photographs. 
He  had  gained  a  knowledge  of  the  English 
language  which  would  qualify  him  for  govern- 
ment positions  at  several  times  the  salary  he  was 
receiving  from  the  mission.     Why  should  he  not 


134    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

enter  business  and  with  his  larger  salary  support 
several  evangelists  instead  of  merely  doing  the 
work  of  one  man  himself  ?  Would  not  he,  as  a 
business  man,  have  greater  influence  for  Christ 
than  one  who  was  under  the  pay  of  the  mission  ? 

While  in  the  midst  of  this  struggle  with  him- 
self, the  Christians  in  the  district  took  a  step 
towards  self-support  and  decided  to  jointly  sup- 
port a  local  pastor.  Their  plan  was  to  place  the 
pastor  in  the  central  congregation  at  Chu  Cheo 
and  have  him  visit  the  other  congregations  at 
intervals.  They  were  given  the  opportunity  to 
choose  the  one  they  desired  and  the  choice  fell 
upon  Chen.  He  was  the  best  educated,  had  ex- 
ecutive ability  and  unselfish  devotion  to  Chris- 
tian service.  He  took  the  position  reluctantly 
as  he  was  not  yet  ready  to  declare  himself  per- 
manently for  the  ministry. 

In  a  two  years'  pastorate  he  transformed  the 
district  into  a  well-organized  working  body.  He 
stood  square  against  using  the  power  of  the 
Church  in  legal  matters  and  selfish  ends.  He 
became  the  brains  of  the  circle  of  evangelists  and 
pastors. 

The  Christians  of  the  Central  China  Christian 
mission  hold  annually  a  general  convention. 
Chen's  ability  and  blameless  Christian  life  were 
being  recognized  in  these  larger  gatherings. 
For  two  years  he  served  as  their  secretary  and 
then  they  kept  him  as  their  president  for  another 


^^tkm 

'^^',^^m     ' 

^fM0B'^ 

\>fl||' 

'J^..^^^'       f  ' 

r 


P||^« 


Chinese  Christians  in  convention. 


MY  "TIMOTHY"  135 

two  years.  The  missionaries  organized  an  an- 
nual Bible  Institute  for  the  evangelists  and  pas- 
tors. The  lectures  were  at  first  given  by  the 
missionaries.  Chen  was  the  first  to  be  raised 
from  the  place  of  pupil  to  the  position  of  teacher. 
He  led  the  devotions,  presided  over  various 
meetings  and  in  emergency  gave  most  acceptably 
a  course  of  lectures.  Had  he  been  willing  to 
accept  the  place  he  could  have  had  the  pastorate 
of  the  largest  congregation  in  the  mission,  but 
his  love  for  the  local  field  was  too  strong. 

In  the  midst  of  this  larger  field  of  activity,  the 
long  fight  between  money  and  the  ministry  which 
had  been  striving  away  in  his  heart,  came  to  an 
end.  At  the  close  of  a  local  convention  when 
the  delegates  were  voicing  the  inspiration,  which 
they  had  received  from  the  meeting,  he  arose  and 
made  the  final  declaration.  "  I  long  wanted  to 
become  rich  and  I  thought  it  was  for  the  sake  of 
the  Gospel.  I  now  know  that  God  has  wanted 
to  use  me  to  make  you  all  rich  in  the  knowledge 
of  His  Word  and  to  that  end  I  henceforth  conse- 
crate myself." 

The  effect  upon  his  own  home  and  relatives 
will  be  the  best  commentary  upon  this  step  he 
took.  What  could  he  have  done  that  would 
have  more  likely  overcome  the  antagonism  of 
his  parents  than  to  have  turned  his  ability  into 
money-making?  They  would  naturally  have 
reaped   the    benefit   of    his   wealth.      The   first 


136    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

noticeable  step  following  his  final  decision  for  the 
ministry  was  when  his  wife  forgot  her  diffidence 
and  began  to  publicly  teach  and  lead  the  women 
to  Christ,  The  next  was  when  his  nephew  was 
baptized.  The  last  victory  is  recorded  in  his 
quaint  English  when  in  writing  a  letter  he  says, 
"  My  mother  will  trust  Christ,  but  my  father 
wants  to  trust  God  and  gods."  May  the  day 
soon  come  when  his  father,  too,  will  be  willing 
to  trust  God  alone  and  forsake  the  gods. 


XIII 

DO  LITTLE  GIRLS  COUNT 

AT  a  recent  commencement  of  the  Nanking 
Christian  Girls'  School  the  church  build- 
ing, in  which  the  exercises  were  held, 
was  crowded  to  the  doors.  The  windows  were 
thrown  open  and  the  Chinese  who  could  not  gain 
admittance,  crowded  around  these  that  they 
might  see  and  hear.  The  rich  and  influential 
men  and  women  of  that  important  Chinese  city 
had  eagerly  responded  to  the  invitations  sent 
them  to  be  present  on  this  occasion  and  filled  all 
the  main  body  of  the  building.  For  the  first 
time  in  China's  history,  her  leaders  are  struggling 
with  the  problem  of  the  education  of  the  hitherto 
despised  half  of  her  race.  They  have  become 
interested  in  what  missionaries  are  doing  for 
China's  womanhood.  Clad  in  their  silks,  those 
men  and  women  walked  into  a  Christian  church 
and  listened  with  rapt  attention  to  the  program 
of  music,  essays  and  speeches  in  which  a  Chris- 
tian tone  was  dominant. 

The  last  speaker  on  the  program  was  a  little 
ten  year  old  girl  whose  part  it  was  to  explain  the 
purpose  of  Christian  missions  in  opening  schools 
for  girls.     She  spoke  to  an  audience,  the  large 

137 


138    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

part  of  whom  were  atheists  or  idolaters.  Many 
of  them  had  sanctioned  the  frequent  practice  in 
China  of  destroying  their  girl  babes.  Had  she 
told  them  her  own  history  it  would  have,  in  an 
even  more  striking  way,  explained  the  aim  of 
missions.  She,  herself,  had  been  thrown  out  by 
her  parents  and  left  to  die.  Had  it  not  been  for 
the  work  of  missionaries  she  would  have  long 
since  been  lost  in  the  multitudes  of  babes  de- 
stroyed by  the  practice  of  infanticide. 

Mrs.  Shi  of  the  Yu-ho-tsz  village  in  Anhwui 
Province,  is  as  consecrated  a  woman  as  can  be 
found  in  the  Church  of  Christ.  Yet  twenty  years 
ago  she  was  no  better  than  the  mass  of  ignorant, 
superstitious  and  unmoral  women  found  in  China. 
Fifteen  years  ago  she  became  a  follower  of 
Christ. 

About  ten  years  ago  she  was  going  down  to 
the  stream  back  of  her  house  to  wash  the  rice  for 
the  morning  meal.  Down  by  the  edge  of  the 
stream  she  found  the  body  of  a  new-born  girl 
babe  with  its  little  limbs  immersed  in  the  edge  of 
the  cold  stream.  In  the  darkness  of  the  night  it 
had  been  rolled  down  the  bank  by  heartless  par- 
ents, they  expecting  that  it  would  roll  into  the 
water  and  be  drowned.  They  had  not  quite  suc- 
ceeded in  their  plan,  but  the  cold  water  and  chilly 
night  air  had  well-nigh  accomplished  the  task. 

A  heathen  woman  would  likely  have  glanced 
around  to  see  if  any  one  were  looking  and  then 


DO  LITTLE  GIRLS  COUNT  139 

kicked  the  body  into  the  stream.  A  new-born 
love  in  Mrs.  Shi's  heart  caused  her  to  pick  up  the 
half-lifeless  form  and  hurry  with  it  back  to  her 
rooms.  She  worked  over  it  for  hours  until  the 
blood  once  more  circulated  through  the  sluggish 
veins  and  a  hungry  cry  awarded  her  work. 

Perhaps  Mrs.  Shi  would  have  stopped  appalled 
at  the  task  before  her,  had  she  taken  time  to 
think,  but  she  was  too  busy  saving  life  to  think. 
Not  till  life  was  once  more  freely  flowing  through 
the  little  body  did  she  stop  to  consider  what  she 
had  done  and  face  the  future.  How  she  suc- 
ceeded in  carrying  that  little  one  through  the  fol- 
lowing years  will  always  be  a  mystery  and  a 
marvel. 

The  Chinese  in  that  part  of  the  country  have 
cows  but  they  have  never  used  them  except  as 
plow  animals.  The  people  neither  drink  milk 
nor  eat  butter.  Prepared  foods  are  a  product  of 
more  advanced  countries  and  are  practically  un- 
known to  the  Chinese,  The  only  food  they  have 
ever  developed  for  feeding  babes  who  have  been 
robbed  of  their  natural  birthright  is  rice  water  or 
rice  gruel. 

But  with  these  accessories  Mrs.  Shi  started  un- 
daunted on  her  task  of  saving  a  castaway  babe. 
From  kind  missionary  friends  she  could  at  times 
obtain  condensed  milk.  Many,  many  times  dur- 
ing the  first  year  or  two  did  she  go  up  to  some 
Chinese  mother  with  that  babe  in  her  arms  and 


140    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

plead  that  it  might  for  a  time  lie  upon  a  life-giv- 
ing mother  breast.  She  called  the  little  one, 
*'  Little  Love."  She  poured  upon  her  the  wealth 
of  a  mother  affection.  No  trial  seemed  too  hard, 
no  task  too  great,  if  it  would  minister  towards 
preserving  the  life  of  this  babe,  denied  as  it  was 
of  its  rightful  heritage. 

There,  in  that  church,  ten  years  later,  Little 
Love  stood  upon  the  platform  before  the  great 
men  and  elegant  women  of  Nanking.  It  was 
through  the  grace  of  God  that  she  was  there. 
She,  who  had  been  cast  out  by  her  own  parents 
at  birth  ;  who  had  been  caught  up  and  nurtured 
by  one  clothed  in  the  body  of  despised  woman- 
hood ;  who  had  been  educated  and  refined  by 
Christianity ;  she,  Little  Love,  is  an  emblem  of 
the  new  girlhood  soon  to  be  given  to  the  other 
half  of  China's  little  ones  when  Christ  comes  to 
reign  there. 

In  times  past  this  oriental  nation  has  had  little 
love  to  waste  upon  her  girls.  The  perpetuation 
of  the  family  name  and  line  was,  in  their  minds, 
the  important  object  in  the  rearing  of  children. 
The  boy  was  the  prime  factor  in  such  an  under- 
taking. Their  girls,  when  grown  up,  must  be 
lost  to  the  home  of  their  parents  and  assist  in  the 
perpetuation  of  some  other  line  and  name.  To 
rear  them  was  somewhat  of  a  thankless  task  done 
for  the  benefit  of  some  one  else. 

Then,  in  a  land  where  famine  frequently  deci- 


DO  LITTLE  GIRLS  COUNT  Ul 

mates  the  population,  and  where  the  poor  die  by 
the  roadside  uncared  for ;  where  the  great  burn- 
ing question  is  "  How  shall  I  get  enough  to  eat 
and  live  "  ;  is  it  strange  that  parents  should  have 
little  love  to  waste  upon  those  whom  they  are 
taught  are  useless  appendages?  And  is  it 
strange,  when  the  future  holds  nothing  but 
dreary  searching  for  enough  to  keep  life  in  one's 
own  body,  that  the  strangling  of  a  new-born 
babe  before  it  has  had  opportunity  to  breathe 
God's  free  air,  should  appear  to  such  distorted 
minds  more  like  an  act  of  mercy  than  a  crime 
against  moral  law  ? 

So  the  missionary  sees  the  little  bodies  floating 
in  the  scum  of  the  ponds  or  thrown  out  by  the 
roadside  and  half  eaten  by  the  wolfish  dogs.  It 
is  not  necessary  to  open  the  little  bundle  of 
matting  found  by  the  side  of  the  city  wall  to  know 
what  it  contains.  Shanghai  has  its  hexagonal 
baby  tower  into  which  their  little  bodies  may  be 
cast.  Nanking  has  its  temple  to  which  they  may 
be  brought  by  parents  who  cannot,  or  care  not  to, 
bury  the  bodies.  Men,  in  order  to  accumulate 
merit  for  themselves  and  make  their  own  entrance 
into  heaven  more  sure,  subscribe  towards  the 
burying  of  these  little  bodies  and  many  are  the 
graves  dug  for  them. 

Buddhists  in  certain  quarters  have  been  inspired 
to  establish  orphanages.  A  circular  bucket,  hung 
upon  a  pivot,  is  fixed  in  the  outer  wall.     One 


142    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

side  of  the  bucket  is  open  and  swung  out  to  the 
street.  Any  person  who  so  desires  may  place  a 
babe  therein  and  swing  the  bucket  in.  It  will  be 
received  without  question  and  nurses  will  be 
called  in  to  rear  the  babe.  But  to  what  end  is 
this  seeming  charity  done  ? 

Slavery,  largely  of  little  girls,  still  exists  in 
Sinim.  Families  who  may  wish  a  girl  servant 
find  the  solution  in  buying  one  of  these  waifs  and 
rearing  it  as  a  slave.  Sometimes  they  treat  it 
well  as  though  it  were  their  own  child.  But  fre- 
quently there  creep  out  to  the  world  stories 
of  terrible  treatment.  Houses  of  ill-fame  are 
found  in  all  their  cities.  The  girls  in  them  are 
veritable  slaves.  Dressed  in  gorgeous  raiment 
to  attract  the  trade,  they  are  often  displayed 
upon  the  public  streets.  Agents  who  have 
no  other  business  furnish,  buy  and  kidnap 
girls  for  these  houses.  Perhaps  such  traffic  is 
carried  on  in  all  countries.  But  when  an  orphan- 
age is  established  and  supported  by  philanthropy 
to  supply  such  a  demand  it  ceases  to  be  worthy 
of  our  admiration. 

Which  is  worse,  to  rear  a  girl  and  condemn 
her  to  a  life  of  shame  or  make  away  with  the 
helpless  infant  ?  That  is  the  question  which  faces 
multitudes  of  Chinese  mothers.  Often  they  are 
not  to  blame  either  for  bringing  the  little  one  into 
the  world  or  for  its  going  out  of  the  world.  The 
father  has  the  power  of  life  and  death  over  his 


DO  LITTLE  GIELS  COUNT  143 

entire  family.  Sitting  in  our  comfortable  homes, 
surrounded  by  every  comfort,  and  far  removed 
from  such  scenes  and  sufferings,  it  is  easy  for  us 
to  judge  and  condemn.  It  becomes  another 
question  when  we  stand  face  to  face  with  the 
awful  problem  itself. 

The  Confucian  classics  teach  that  a  woman 
may  be  divorced  for  any  one  of  seven  reasons, 
such  as  being  a  gossip,  a  scold,  sterile,  unfaithful 
to  her  husband  and  so  on.  No  suggestion  is 
given  as  to  how  a  woman  may  divorce  her  hus- 
band. It  was  not  thought  of.  The  classics  teach 
that  a  girl  should  be  obedient  to  her  parents,  a 
married  woman  to  her  husband  and  a  widow  to 
her  eldest  son.  No  suggestion  is  made  concern- 
ing her  education.  Her  mission  is  to  bear  sons 
and  play  a  very  humble  part  in  making  a  home. 

What,  then,  has  brought  about  this  changed  atti- 
tude ?  Why  should  Chinese  leaders  begin  to  be 
interested  in  girls'  schools  opened  by  missionaries 
and  why  should  they  themselves  seek  to  open  other 
such  schools  ?  Neither  commercial  nor  political 
relations  with  other  nations  have  caused  the 
change.  The  change  has  come  by  reason  of 
the  hundreds  of  homes  established  throughout 
the  country  by  missionaries.  The  revelation  of 
what  a  woman  can  be  when  she  has  been  reared 
and  educated  amid  Christian  influences  and  given 
an  equal  opportunity  for  development,  has  read- 
justed their  viewpoint. 


144    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

**  We  did  not  know  that  it  was  possible  to  de- 
velop our  women,  to  make  them  our  equals. 
Neither  had  we  dreamed  it  possible  to  find  pleas- 
ure and  congenial  fellowship  in  association  with 
one  of  the  other  sex.  We  must  have  such  homes 
as  you  have.  We  must  educate  our  girls.  We 
can  see  now  that  these  things  must  be  a  part  of 
our  reform.  China  cannot  be  elevated  to  an 
equality  with  other  nations  unless  we  make  our 
homes  equal  to  your  homes."  Thus  the  change 
is  coming.  It  has  been  long  in  coming,  but  God 
has  heard  the  cry  of  downtrodden  womanhood 
and  is  staying  the  hand  of  her  oppressors.  Little 
girls  are  beginning  to  count,  even  in  China. 


XIV 

A  CHINESE  "DORCAS" 

WHEN  one  sees  her  a  few  yards  away 
she  does  not  appear  especially  attract- 
ive. She  looks  too  much  like  an  old 
plodding  country  woman,  and  such  she  is.  Her 
shoulders  are  stooped.  Her  gait  is  lumbering 
as  though  she  had  walked  over  many  uneven 
places.  Her  hands  and  face  are  wrinkled  and 
sunburned.  Her  ready-made  clothing  is  made 
of  indigo-coloured  cloth  and  much  worn.  No, 
she  is  very  litde  different  from  a  thousand  other 
country  women  when  seen  at  a  distance.  And 
a  thousand  pass  her  without  even  bestowing  a 
glance  upon  her  as  she  quietly  makes  her  way 
over  the  uneven  Chinese  streets. 

But  look  at  her  when  she  gets  a  little  closer  and 
something  in  her  face  shows  that  she  is  ddfTerent 
from  most  of  the  other  Chinese  women.  She,  at 
least,  seems  to  know  where  she  is  going.  She 
does  not  stare  at  the  store  displays  like  the  coun- 
try women  usually  do.  Her  glance  is  very  direct, 
too,  and  there  is  a  kindly  look  in  her  eyes  that 
makes  her  face  seem  attractive  even  though  her 
general  appearance  is  not.     She  must  be  nearly 

145 


146    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

sixty  years  old,  perhaps  five  feet  four  inches  in 
height, — just  ordinary  in  general  appearance. 

When  Mrs.  Gerould,  one  of  America's  Christian 
women,  started  to  build  for  her  husband  a  monu- 
ment, she  went  across  to  India  to  choose  the  spot. 
It  is  a  complete  mission  station  in  the  heart  of 
India  by  which  she  commemorates  his  memory. 
When  she  had  completed  the  arrangements  for 
the  establishment  of  that  memorial  station,  she 
came  on  around  the  globe  to  China  and  stopped 
for  a  few  days  with  friends  among  the  mission- 
aries in  that  country. 

She  had  only  three  days  in  which  to  become 
acquainted  with  Mrs.  Shi,  this  plodding  country 
woman, — three  days  in  an  unknown  tongue.  Mrs. 
Gerould  was  a  well-dressed,  wholesome.  Christian 
woman  and  Mrs.  Shi  was  a  very  plainly  dressed, 
Chinese,  Christian  country  woman.  Their  cus- 
toms were  different.  The  great  chasm  of  antipodal 
languages  separated  them.  That  they  could  write 
the  term  ''  Christian  "  in  connection  with  each  of 
their  characters  was  about  the  only  thing  they  held 
in  common.  It  would  seem  a  difficult  task  to  pro- 
ceed far  in  acquaintanceship  when  only  three 
days  were  to  be  given  to  the  task. 

Somewhere  in  that  short  space  of  time  the 
motherly  heart  of  the  American  woman  discov- 
ered its  counterpart  within  the  bosom  of  her 
Chinese  sister.  She  loved  the  two  missionary 
women  who  were  living  and  working  in  that  iso- 


A  CHINESE  "DORCAS"  147 

lated  interior  station  of  Chu  Cheo  and  it  had  not 
required  a  common  tongue  for  her  to  find  out 
that  Mrs.  Shi  loved  them  as  well  as  she. 

When  the  three  days  had  flown  by  and  Mrs. 
Gerould  was  in  the  sedan  chair  and  the  coolies 
had  placed  their  shoulders  under  the  poles  to  bear 
her  back  to  Nanking,  Mrs.  Shi  came  hurrying 
back  from  some  errand  of  mercy  to  say  her  good- 
by.  The  two  women  broke  out  in  a  stream  of 
words  in  two  languages  expecting  the  missionary 
standing  by  to  interpret  for  them.  They  stopped 
speaking  almost  as  suddenly  as  they  had  begun. 
Language  was  not  needed  as  a  medium  between 
them.  One  was  holding  out  her  hand  in  American 
fashion  and  the  other  was  clasping  her  own  palms 
in  Chinese  style,  but  even  contrary  customs  could 
not  be  the  bearer  of  those  final  messages.  The 
eyes  of  the  one,  looking  dimly  through  the  tears 
straight  into  the  heart  of  the  other,  bore  the  mes- 
sage of  love  between  them.  No  interpreter  was 
needed.  And  the  one  that  they  might  have  used 
as  interpreter  did  not  interfere  or  interrupt.  He 
was  interested  in  something,  just  then,  he  saw  on 
the  far  away  mountains. 

Mrs.  Shi  is  a  mother  to  the  little  village  in  which 
she  lives.  Sorrow  enters  none  of  the  homes,  sick- 
ness comes  not  anywhere,  no  trouble  invades  the 
place  but  that  she  is  found  in  the  midst  of  the 
afflicted  ones.  When  the  missionary  women  in 
Chu  Cheo  are  left  alone,  their  husbands  being 


us    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

absent  on  preaching  tours  in  the  surrounding 
country,  all  feeling  of  anxiety  is  taken  away,  if 
Mrs.  Shi  can  be  with  them. 

When  Evangelist  Shi,  the  story-teller,  broke 
away  from  his  opium  and  began  to  follow  Christ, 
he  went  back  to  Yu-ho-tsz,  his  former  home,  and 
began  work  in  the  inn  owned  by  Mr.  Wang,  Mrs. 
Shi's  first  husband.  In  the  evening  when  his  work 
was  done,  Mr.  Shi  would  take  a  bench  out  in  front 
of  the  inn  and  tell  the  story  of  Christ  who  had 
saved  him.  His  bitterest  antagonist  was  Mrs. 
Wang.  She  stormed  and  raged  at  him  and  led 
in  the  petty  insults  which  the  villagers  heaped 
upon  him.  But  in  the  end  patience  conquered 
and  she  became  the  first  convert  of  the  village  to 
the  new  religion. 

Mr.  Wang  died  not  long  afterwards  and  her 
relatives,  both  for  the  money  they  would  make 
and  in  order  to  stop  the  spread  of  this  "  foreigners' 
religion,"  plotted  secretly  to  sell  her  off  to  another 
man  who  lived  a  distance  away.  Men  came  on 
horseback  in  the  night  to  kidnap  her.  But  the 
plot  had  been  discovered  and  friends  had  warned 
her.  They  aided  her  to  capture  the  capturers. 
Had  it  been  in  the  days  before  she  became  a  Chris- 
tian they  would  have  been  sent  to  their  homes 
with  sore  backs  and  bruised  bodies,  for  she  was 
capable  in  the  use  both  of  her  tongue  and  arms. 
But  she  was  a  follower  of  Christ  now.  When  she 
let  them  go,  they  went  in  wonder,  for  they  had 


A  CHINESE  "  DORCAS '^  149 

seen  a  Chinese  woman  under  control  of  the  Holy 
Spirit. 

She  preferred  to  choose  her  second  husband  for 
herself  and  when  the  proper  time  came  she  was 
married  to  the  former  inn-servant,  Shi  Gwei-biao. 
The  Church  in  China  has  been  profited  by  that 
marriage.  The  home  they  established  has  been 
a  contrast  to  every  other  home  in  that  region, — 
and  a  model.  It  is  clean  ;  it  is  full  of  peace  and 
love  ;  it  is  a  centre  from  which  radiates  a  ministry 
to  all  other  homes  in  the  region. 

For  a  few  years  the  little  circle  of  Christians 
met  from  house  to  house.  Then  it  became  neces- 
sary to  open  a  central  place  of  worship.  Every 
home  in  the  village  is  mud-walled  and  thatch- 
roofed.  Grass  and  bamboo  poles  and  even  small 
trees  are  to  be  found  on  the  hillsides  for  the 
cutting.  They  needed  little  else  beside  labour. 
Why  should  they  not  build  their  own  chapel? 
Mr.  Shi  and  the  men  laid  up  the  walls  and  bound 
together  the  rafters.  Mrs.  Shi  and  the  women 
went  out  to  the  hills  with  their  sickles  and  carry- 
ing poles,  cut  the  grass  for  thatch  and  brought 
it  home  on  their  shoulders.  The  men  laid  the 
roof,  set  up  the  rough  doors  and  the  chapel  was 
done.  With  its  whitewashed  walls  and  its  clean 
interior,  it  began  its  silent  witness  for  purity. 

For  nearly  ten  years  the  little  chapel  was  the 
gathering-place  of  the  church  in  that  region. 
The  membership  increased  and  spread  out  into 


150    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

the  surrounding  country  and  into  the  neighbour- 
ing market  towns.  Then  came  the  call  for  a 
second  chapel.  It  must  be  more  permanent  than 
the  first.  Gifts  came  to  Mr.  Hunt,  the  mission- 
ary evangelist  in  Chu  Cheo,  from  friends  in 
America  and  England.  The  Chinese  gave  out 
of  their  poverty  with  liberal  hands.  Ground  was 
bought  in  the  neighbouring  market  town  of 
Gwanwei  and  a  larger  and  more  permanent 
edifice  was  erected.  Again  the  enthusiasm  of 
Mrs.  Shi  was  manifested.  Out  of  her  slender 
means  she  bought  substantial,  comfortable  seats 
for  the  entire  building.  Had  she  not  made  this 
offering  hard  Chinese  benches  would  have  been 
installed  in  their  stead.  One  cannot  sit  in  that 
church  without  thinking  of  this  **  Dorcas  "  whose 
care  is  always  for  the  happiness  of  others. 

For  four  hundred  miles  or  more  to  the  north- 
west of  Nanking  there  runs  a  highway  built  by 
one  of  the  Ming  emperors.  Its  purpose  was  to 
connect  the  cities  of  Nanking,  Fengyang  and 
Kaifeng  which  he  had  designated  as  his  capital 
cities.  It  is  but  a  caravan  route  over  which  flows 
the  traffic  of  that  region.  Caravan  animals, 
wheelbarrows,  and  a  great  army  of  travellers 
follow  one  another  over  this  road  in  Indian  file, 
making  it  but  a  series  of  cow-paths.  No  wagon 
can  pass  along  it.  The  road  is  rough  and  un- 
cared  for. 

This  line  of  traffic  taps  at  its  northern  end  the 


A  CHINESE  "DORCAS^'  161 

regions  so  often  visited  by  famine.  The  suffer- 
ers, when  driven  out  by  hunger,  will  load  a  few 
cooking  vessels  and  other  camping  supplies  on  a 
wheelbarrow,  perhaps  build  a  nest  in  the  centre 
for  a  baby  or  two,  then  start  on  their  journey 
southward  to  the  land  of  plenty.  Day  by  day 
they  follow  the  trail.  By  begging  and  petty 
thieving,  they  try  to  eke  out  their  slender  means 
until  they  reach  their  destination.  They  fall  sick 
and  exhausted  by  the  way.  The  little  children 
may  be  sold.  The  sick  ones  when  too  weak  to 
travel,  are  left  to  the  tender  mercies  (?)  of  the  vil- 
lages by  the  way. 

These  people  have  been  the  great  burden  upon 
the  heart  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Shi.  They  aid  them 
to  build  huts,  give  them  little  articles  of  clothing 
and  minister  to  their  sick  ones.  Among  the  three- 
score they  have  won  to  Christ  a  goodly  number 
have  been  saved  through  this  means.  Two 
evangelists  and  a  colporteur,  now  in  the  service, 
have  been  thus  picked  up  by  them.  A  few  dollars 
placed  in  the  hands  of  these  people  bear  big  in- 
terest in  the  saving  of  people,  and  the  missionaries 
have  never  been  afraid  of  its  being  misused. 

Sometimes  Mrs.  Shi  comes  down  to  Chu  Cheo 
to  visit  the  missionaries.  But  she  is  never  idle. 
She  will  take  a  quiet  walk  up  some  side  street 
until  she  meets  a  group  of  women  talking  at  the 
door  of  some  home.  In  perfect  Chinese  style  she 
will  stop  to  listen  and  enter  into  the  conversation. 


152    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

She  soon  is  leading  the  talk  and  the  women  will 
invite  her  into  the  home  that  they  may  hear  more. 
By  and  by  she  will  be  preaching  to  them.  After 
a  while  the  doctor,  busy  in  his  dispensary,  looks 
out  and  sees  her  piloting  a  group  of  women  into 
the  place.  She  has  found  some  woman  who 
needs  medical  aid.  She  tells  them  of  the  foreign 
doctor  who  heals  people.  They  have  heard  of 
him  before  but  are  afraid  to  go  alone.  She  offers 
to  come  with  them.  Perhaps  they  are  of  the 
wealthier  and  more  secluded  class.  To  them 
even  her  offer  to  accompany  them  will  not  over- 
come their  timidity.  Then  she  will  persuade 
them  to  visit  the  foreign  lady.  There  their 
timidity  will  gradually  disappear  and  then  the 
doctor  will  be  invited  into  his  own  house  to  see 
the  sick  person.  In  these  ways  she  wins  their 
confidence  and  drives  out  the  antipathy  they  have 
formed  towards  the  foreigner  and  the  religion  he 
is  bringing  to  their  people  and  her  people. 

Once  in  a  while  she  tramps  over  the  sixty  miles 
between  her  home  and  the  school  at  Nanking 
where  Little  Love,  whose  life  she  saved  when  her 
parents  had  cast  her  out  to  drown,  attends  school. 
Aitsz  (Little  Love)  is  very  precious  to  Mrs.  Shi. 
Country  clothes  look  rather  shoddy  down  at 
Nanking.  It  is  an  important  official  city  and  the 
people  there  dress  much  finer  than  those  who 
live  north  of  the  river.  But  Mrs.  Shi's  coarse 
clothes  do  not  bar  her  from  the  hearts  of  the 


A  CHINESE  "DORCAS''  153 

schoolgirls.  They  give  her  a  royal  welcome, 
for  all  love  her. 

Four  of  the  oldest  schoolgirls  attended  the  an- 
nual conference  which  was  held  in  Chu  Cheo. 
On  Sunday  afternoon  the  church  was  given  over 
to  a  woman's  meeting.  The  schoolgirls  were 
the  chief  speakers.  The  house  had  the  greatest 
crowd  of  women  it  ever  held.  One  evening,  a 
little  later,  when  the  men  were  having  a  special 
session,  the  girls  dressed  Mrs.  Shi  in  their  school 
clothing  and  one  of  them  donned  her  country 
clothes  and  became  a  gawky  country  woman.  In 
the  parlour  of  one  of  the  mission  homes  Mrs.  Shi 
lost  her  identity  and  turned  her  years  back  to 
girlhood  once  more.  No  wonder  the  girls  love 
her.     She  is  one  who  never  grows  old. 

Such  are  a  few  glimpses  into  the  life  of  one 
loved  by  missionaries  and  Chinese  alike.  She, 
it  iSk  who  is  the  "  hot-hearted "  leader  of  the 
Chinese  Christian  women  of  the  Chu  Cheo  dis- 
trict,— their  "  Dorcas.'' 


XV 

"HAPPINESS  IS  COME" 

HIS  name  is  Djao.  His  parents  called 
him  Lai-fu  which  means  "  Happiness 
is  Come,"  because  they  were  so  happy 
when  they  found  they  had  a  boy.  Outside  the 
fact  of  his  being  a  boy  he  brought  them  little 
happiness,  for  it  meant  one  more  mouth  to  feed 
and  they  were  only  poor  farm  labourers.  That 
was  far  up  in  the  northern  province  of  Shansi. 

They  had  to  work  out  all  day  and  the  baby 
boy  was  left  in  the  end  of  a  furrow  or  any  other 
hollow  while  his  mother  hoed  the  corn  and  beans. 
Something  went  wrong  for  he  grew  up  with  a 
bent  back.  They  said  it  was  because  there  was 
no  one  to  help  him  when  he  began  to  walk  but 
more  likely  there  was  something  wrong  with  the 
food  supply. 

There  was  not  much  to  remember  in  those 
days  but  an  empty  stomach.  That  seemed  to  be 
the  most  prominent  thing  in  his  little  life.  Some- 
where in  those  days  his  mother  did  not  get 
enough  to  eat  and  she  died.  Then,  after  a  few 
years  more,  a  famine  came  and  carried  away  his 
father.  His  name  seemed  to  represent  all  the 
happiness  they  ever  obtained  in  this  world. 

154 


"  HAPPINESS  IS  COME  ''  155 

A  distant  relative  took  him  in  charge.  This 
man  had  been  a  little  more  successful  than 
many.  Eight  acres  of  land,  eight  head  of  work- 
ing cattle,  two  hired  men  and  one  son  were  down 
to  his  credit.  The  orphaned  boy's  work  was  to 
watch  the  cattle  as  they  fed  by  the  side  of  the 
road  or  in  the  fields. 

It  was  not  hard  work,  especially  as  the  boy 
was  getting  a  little  nearer  the  proper  allowance 
of  rations.  There  was  no  schooling  for  him. 
Orphans  out  on  a  farm  never  dream  of  such  a 
luxury.  Very  few  sons  of  even  prosperous 
farmers  have  this  privilege.  If  he  got  enough 
to  eat  and  did  not  shiver  with  the  cold  in  winter 
he  felt  himself  happy. 

But  the  time  came  when  he  did  not  have 
enough.  Neither  did  the  farmer.  Another 
famine  year  came  around  and  he  was  told  that 
he  was  not  wanted  in  that  home.  There  were 
too  many  mouths  to  fill.  So  he  found  himself,  a 
twelve-year-old  boy,  out  in  the  world  alone.  No 
door  was  open  to  him,  no  work  was  to  be  found. 
No  mother,  no  father,  no  brother,  no  sister,  no 
anybody — just  one  lone  boy.  If  he  starved,  if 
he  died,  no  one  would  care,  no  one  would  miss 
him. 

So  he  began  his  wanderings.  Every  refugee 
goes  south.  It  is  warmer  there  and  does  not 
require  so  many  clothes.  Then  there  is  a  gen- 
eral impression  that  food  and  clothing  can  be  ob- 


156    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

tained  in  the  southern  provinces  if  one  is  wiUing 
to  work.  Anywhere  is  better  than  in  a  famine 
district.  People  were  dying  there  and  no  one 
likes  to  die,  especially  if  he  has  no  friends.  So 
south  he  went,  all  alone,  through  three  hundred 
miles  of  mountains  and  plains. 

He  was  a  year  covering  that  distance.  Why 
should  he  hurry  ?  All  he  was  looking  for  was 
food  and  work  and  shelter.  Some  days  he 
found  no  food.  Then  he  curled  himself  up  in 
the  corner  of  some  abandoned  house  and  **ate 
bitterness."  In  the  cold  weather  he  would 
gather  some  sticks  and  grass  and  creeping  into 
such  an  abode,  would  build  a  bonfire  in  the  cor- 
ner to  keep  himself  from  freezing.  That  was  a 
bitter  year. 

But  all  roads  have  an  end.  He  slowly  trav- 
elled down  through  Honan  and  entered  Anhwui 
Province.  Wandering  around  a  place,  called 
Mengcheng,  he  met  a  farmer  one  day  who  took 
pity  on  him  and  put  him  to  watching  his  cattle. 

So  great  a  contrast  was  this  to  his  long  winter 
of  wanderings  that  it  seemed  as  if  he  could  never 
wish  for  anything  greater.  That  was  in  the 
spring.  All  that  summer  he  had  a  resting 
place.  But  when  the  fall  came  the  work  was 
done.  The  man  had  been  good  to  him  and 
when  he  started  on  the  road  again  he  had  a 
warm  suit  of  clothes  on  his  back. 

Once  again  his  face  was  turned  southward  and 


"  HAPPINESS  IS  COME  "  157 

in  a  few  days  he  had  reached  the  city  of  Hwai- 
yuen.  He  wandered  out  into  the  country,  for 
city  streets  did  not  yield  as  abundant  supply  of 
food  to  a  homeless  boy  as  country  lanes.  Hap- 
pily another  farmer  took  pity  on  him  and  in  his 
home  Lai-fu  was  destined  to  stay  several 
years. 

This  man  had  a  mother,  a  wife,  a  donkey  and 
a  cow  to  his  credit  besides  his  few  acres.  He  had 
also  a  temper  and  could  use  it  on  many  occa- 
sions. As  usual  the  cow  became  the  special 
charge  of  Lai-fu.  The  farmer  used  both  cow 
and  donkey  when  he  plowed  his  fields.  All  the 
farmers  around  that  region  mix  up  their  work 
animals.  They  may  hitch  together  a  water  buf- 
falo and  a  cow,  a  cow  and  a  horse,  a  donkey  and 
a  buffalo,  or  any  other  combination  that  suits 
the  live  stock  they  may  possess.  Sometimes 
they  hitch  together  three  animals,  all  different. 

After  staying  with  this  man  for  a  few  years,  he 
took  Lai-fu  as  a  hired  man  and  paid  him  wages. 
He  was  coming  up  in  the  world  now.  His 
wages  were  two  dollars  a  year  and  his  food. 
Now  he  had  money  of  his  own  for  which  he  had 
not  begged. 

But  the  man's  temper  did  not  improve  with 
age.  One  day  Lai-fu  in  cutting  the  broom  corn 
had  left  a  part  that  did  not  appear  to  him  ripe. 
The  man  ordered  him  to  go  back  and  cut  it.  He 
cut  it.     Then  the  man  saw  that  it  really  was  not 


158    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

ripe  and  let  loose  his  tongue  on  the  boy  and  he, 
in  disgust,  quit  the  job. 

Now  where  ?  Two  dollars  were  in  his  pocket 
and  a  fair  amount  of  clothes  on  his  back.  Nan- 
king, the  historic  southern  capital  of  China,  was 
only  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  away  and  every- 
body said  plenty  of  work  was  to  be  found  there. 
So  for  Nanking  he  started.  He  was  now  twenty 
years  of  age,  but  by  reason  of  that  bend  in  his 
back  did  not  look  that  old. 

Two  dollars  would  not  go  far  on  a  one  hundred 
and  fifty  mile  tramp  except  by  the  most  careful 
economy.  There  was  no  sleeping  in  inns  and 
eating  of  fine  meals  by  the  way.  When  the 
farmers  would  let  him,  he  slept  with  the  cattle  in 
the  farm  homes  and  by  their  kindness  often 
gained  a  breakfast.  When  they  objected  he 
curled  up  under  some  stack  of  grain  or  built  a 
fire  in  a  hollow. 

But  that  amount  of  money  or  any  other  amount 
could  not  keep  one  from  beggary  when  no  work 
could  be  found.  He  hunted  through  Nanking 
and  then  with  others  of  his  class  took  cheap 
passage  up  to  Wuhu,  sixty  miles  away,  but  no 
work  was  forthcoming.  He  came  back  to  Nan- 
king and  retraced  his  steps  across  the  river  to 
Pukoh,  the  end  of  the  northern  caravan  routes. 
He  might  meet  some  driver  whom  he  used  to 
know  from  the  Hwaiyuen  region  and  from  him 
get  a  little  help.     So  fruitless  had  been  his  quest 


^'  HAPPINESS  IS  COME  '^  159 

in  a  region  where  it  was  popularly  supposed  that 
work  was  to  be  had  for  the  asking,  that  he  could 
wish  himself  back  under  the  evil  temper  of 
the  man  with  whom  he  had  spent  the  last 
years. 

He  found  no  caravan  driver  whom  he  knew 
but  one  day  when  he  timidly  asked  a  driver  if  he 
would  not ''  do  good  deeds  "  for  merit's  sake  and 
give  him  a  few  cash,  the  man  turned  to  him  and 
asked,  "  Where  are  you  from  ?  " 
**  From  Hwaiyuen." 

*•  Want  to  go  back  ?  "     Didn't  he  though  ? 
*'  Will  you  help  take  care  of  my  animals  on 
the  road  if  I  give  you  your  food  ?  " 

Was  there  ever  a  boy  (for  he  was  still  a  boy) 
who  having  passed  through  what  he  had,  would 
not  accept  such  an  opportunity  to  return  to  familiar 
places  ?  Up  there  were  people  who  knew  him. 
There  would  be  some  chance  of  obtaining  work 
and  leaving  this  vagrant  beggar  life  which  he  so 
despised.  Avery  humble  boy  followed  those 
mules  on  their  return  journey  to  what  had  been 
home  to  him. 

With  all  that  he  had  been  in  places  where 
foreigners  lived  he  had  never  seen  one.  Recendy 
there  had  come  a  party  into  Hwaiyuen  and  Chu 
Cheo  held  others.  Then  others  were  setded  in 
Nanking  and  Wuhu.  He  had  often  heard  that 
whoever  consented  to  **  eat  their  religion  "  would 
receive  a  monthly  stipend  but  it  did  not  sound 


160    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

very  reasonable  and  he  had  never  sought  charity 
from  them. 

One  evening  as  the  journey  behind  those 
mules  was  drawing  to  an  end  and  they  were 
expecting  on  the  morrow  to  arrive  in  Hwaiyuen, 
they  looked  back  and  saw  a  queerly  dressed  man 
coming  along  on  horseback.  He  was  accom- 
panied by  a  well-dressed  Chinese  whose  clothes 
showed  him  to  be  an  educated  man,  a  teacher. 
Lai-fu  knew  it  was  a  foreigner  at  first  glance, 
even  before  the  caravan  driver  muttered  **  foreign 
devil." 

He  was,  however,  surprised  to  hear  the  for- 
eigner address  them  in  Chinese  and  ask  where 
they  were  expecting  to  stop  for  the  night  There 
were  very  few  inns  along  that  section  of  the  road 
which  were  prepared  to  take  care  of  animals  over 
night,  so  they  were  all  destined  to  stop  at  the 
same  place  and  that  meant  much  to  his  future. 

In  the  night  a  cold  rain  began  which  turned  to 
sleet  and  snow  and  they  were  shut  in  together 
for  a  day.  Fortunate  for  Lai-fu  that  he  was  in 
an  inn,  for  while  he  had  a  warm  coat,  his  panta- 
loons were  thin  cotton  and  one  leg  of  those  had 
been  accidentally  torn  off  above  the  knee.  Of 
course  he  had  no  stockings  and  only  straw  sandals 
on  his  feet. 

He  curled  himself  up  in  the  straw,  and  got  up 
as  close  as  possible  to  the  other  Chinese  who  were 
sleeping  together.     But  it  grew  colder  and  finally 


«  HAPPINESS  IS  COME  "  161 

one  of  the  Chinese  got  up  and  started  a  fire  in 
the  middle  of  the  dirt  floor  around  which  they  all 
gathered  until  the  morning  dawned.  He  saw  the 
foreigner  roll  himself  up  in  his  blankets  and  stay 
in  his  bunk.  There  was  nothing  else  to  do.  It 
was  cold. 

Shut  in  all  day  by  that  rain  and  sleet  the 
parties  got  acquainted.  The  caravan  driver,  who 
knew  more  about  foreigners  than  most  of  them, 
conceived  the  happy  idea  of  having  Lai-fu  attach 
himself  to  this  one.  It  would  rid  himself  of 
trouble  and  be  not  a  bad  thing  for  Lai-fu.  He 
talked  to  the  latter's  teacher  who  was  accom- 
panying him. 

To  Lai-fu  it  did  not  matter  much.  There  was  a 
thrill  of  something  new  in  his  heart  at  the  thought, 
the  new  experience  of  going  with  these  people 
from  the  outside  world  of  whom  Chinese  talked 
so  much  and  knew  so  little.  To  go  back  to  that 
vile-tempered  farmer  was  not  a  pleasing  prospect 
in  view  of  how  he  had  left  him  and  it  did  not 
matter  much  where  he  did  go  so  long  as  he  got 
a  sufficient  amount  of  food  and  clothing.  The 
foreigner  seemed  kind  and  certainly  could  not  be 
worse  than  the  farmer  had  been. 

The  second  morning  dawned  clear,  but  with  a 
terrible  cold  wind  blowing  across  those  plains. 
The  missionary  was  going  on  to  Hwaiyuen,  thir- 
teen miles  farther,  to  see  his  friends  there.  The 
teacher  had  talked  with  him  about  the  boy,  but 


162    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

did  not  like  to  make  rash  promises,  as  beggars 
are  rather  a  hopeless  class.  He  told  the  boy  to 
follow  him  into  the  city  and  he  would  get  him  a 
warm  pair  of  pantaloons. 

Bravely  the  boy  helped  saddle  the  missionary's 
horse  and  started  to  follow  him  through  that  bit- 
ter wind.  The  missionary  wondered  whether  he 
himself  could  ride  on  or  be  compelled  to  stop 
again  until  the  day  warmed.  And  the  boy  with 
torn  pantaloons  stood  it  for  a  while  and  then 
with  frozen  tears  on  his  cheeks  stopped  by  a 
friendly  fire.  The  inn-people  gave  him  a  bowl 
of  rice  gruel.  He  waited  until  the  sun  had 
warmed  up  the  air  and  then  plodded  on  into  the 
city  and  hunted  up  the  residence  of  the  mission- 
aries. 

The  teacher  took  him  to  a  clothing  store.  **  We 
live  one  hundred  miles  back  on  the  road  over 
which  you  have  been  coming,  at  Chu  Cheo,"  ex' 
plained  the  teacher  to  him.  ''  The  roads  will  be 
muddy  and  the  weather  bad.  You  can  do  as 
you  please.  If  you  want  to  go  back  with  us,  all 
right.     If  you  don't,  the  clothes  are  still  yours." 

That  did  not  sound  very  much  as  though  they 
were  trying  to  get  any  one  to  follow  them.  Well, 
he  tramped  back  over  that  muddy  road  to  Chu 
Cheo,  one  hundred  miles,  in  three  days.  The 
missionary  began  to  believe  the  boy  had  some 
mettle  in  him.  He  was  given  work  to  do  and  he 
did  it.     Never  complaining,  he  ate   what  was 


J 

-tL 

_J 

Djao  Lai-fu  and  his  charges. 


H. 

Little  ^Missionaries. 


«  HAPPINESS  IS  COME  "  163 

given  him,  slept  where  they  put  him  and  stood  by 
his  job.  No  money  had  been  promised  and  none 
was  given.  He  was  well  treated  and  was  well 
satisfied. 

The  ways  in  those  missionary  compounds  were 
strange  to  him.  In  the  morning  they  would  all 
gather  together  and  read  out  of  a  Book  and  then 
stand  up  and  shut  their  eyes  while  one  would 
seem  to  be  talking  to  some  One.  Every  seventh 
day  they  would  stop  working  and  gather  in  a 
large  building  and  study  that  Book  some  more. 
Lai-fu  had  been  in  temples  when  idols  were  be- 
ing worshipped  and  had  often  bowed  before  these 
in  the  farmer's  house  himself,  but  he  had  never 
seen  anything  like  this. 

They  were  talking  about  one  true  God  and  His 
Son,  whom,  they  said,  had  died  for  us  because 
we  were  sinners  and,  if  we  would  worship  Him 
and  be  good.  He  would  save  us  from  demons. 
Lai-fu  did  not  say  much,  but  his  ears  were  open. 
Slowly  it  came  to  him  that  all  these  years  of  wan- 
dering he  had  not  been  alone.  Somewhere,  not 
far  ofi,  an  unknown  One  had  been  watching  him. 
There  came  into  his  heart  a  great  longing  for  that 
One  and  he  took  Him.  That  was  all.  Then  the 
significance  of  his  name  came  to  him.  His  **  hap- 
piness had  come.'* 


XVI 

CHINESE  ROADS  AND  STREETS 

ARE  the  roads  of  this  ancient  empire  broad 
and  lined  with  aged,  beautiful  elms  or 
maples?  Are  they  macadamized  like 
the  ancient  Roman  roads  in  England  ?  Do  they, 
like  the  great  wall  of  China,  run  straight  across 
plains  and  valleys,  rivers  and  mountains,  turning 
aside  for  no  obstacle  ?  We  might  imagine  them 
to  be  something  like  this. 

They  do  have  some  macadamized  roads  in  cer- 
tain port  cities  that  have  been  more  largely  in- 
fluenced by  foreigners.  Such  streets  are  often 
flanked  with  young  willows,  planted  so  thickly 
that  they  become  a  continuous  canopy  over  the 
street.  But  a  tree  that  becomes  as  large  as  a 
New  England  elm  is  so  wonderful  that  they  build 
a  fence  around  it  and  stick  up  a  small  shrine  at 
its  base.  "  Only  a  god  could  keep  a  tree  alive 
through  four  dynasties."  The  roads  do  go  up  the 
mountainsides  and  across  the  rivers, — if  they  are 
shallow  enough  to  ford.  If  not,  the  travellers  are 
ferried  across. 

But  the  roads  are  not  straight.  Fields,  not 
roads,  are  the  important  thing  in  China.  The  lat- 
ter must  bend  to  the  former  and  be  moulded  by 

164 


CHINESE  ROADS  AND  STREETS      165 

their  edges.  In  Central  China  the  land  is  laid 
out  for  irrigation  purposes  as  rice  is  the  main 
crop.  These  fields  are  rarely  more  than  an  acre 
or  two  in  extent.  Often  they  contain  only  a  few- 
square  rods.  They  are  made  irregular  by  the 
rolling  land.  The  road  follows  their  boundaries. 
Frequently  it  assumes  the  track  of  a  giant  rail 
fence,  adding  a  third  to  the  distance  one  is  trav- 
elling. 

Around  the  edge  of  the  field  the  farmer  digs  a 
trench  for  the  watercourse.  The  earth  therefrom 
is  thrown  upon  the  road.  It  was  only  from  five 
to  ten  feet  wide  to  begin  with.  With  this  addi- 
tional dirt  it  assumes  the  shape  of  a  miniature 
mountain  and  the  traveller  is  following  the  ridge. 
Miniature  precipices  flank  the  sides  down  to  the 
field  several  feet  below.  Rains  break  down  the 
sides  and  the  road  in  places  is  left  a  foot  or  two 
wide.  Cross  ditches  cut  through  the  road  and  a 
bridge  of  poles  covered  with  brush  and  dirt  is 
constructed.  In  time  this  begins  to  give  way  and 
a  hole  the  size  of  an  animal's  leg  stares  up  at  the 
rider.  Great  bridges  built  in  the  dim  past,  for 
lack  of  care,  have  been  torn  to  pieces  by  the 
floods  and  hand  of  time.  If  there  is  still  a  path- 
way, the  road  may  pass  over  them.  If  not,  it 
circles  around  them.  The  broken  stones  lie  about 
obstructing  the  traffic. 

Along  the  great  caravan  routes  is  a  never 
ending  stream  of  humanity  and  other  animals. 


166    BREAKIISG  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

A  caravan  of  horses,  mules  and  donkeys  go 
steadily  along,  each  bearing  upon  its  sore  back 
about  three  hundred  pounds  of  merchandise. 
They  will  carry  it  thirty  miles  a  day.  A  group 
of  wheelbarrows  with  as  heavy  a  load  follow  in 
their  wake.  Those  brawny  men  will  push  those 
barrows  twenty  miles  on  a  level  in  a  day. 
When  a  difficult  place  in  the  road  is  met,  the 
line  stops  and  one  by  one  the  barrows  are  pulled 
over.  Up  a  mountainside  it  will  take  five  of 
them  to  put  the  barrow  and  its  freight  to  the 
top.  No  barrow  man  travels  alone.  He  would 
be  stalled  a  dozen  times  a  day. 

Men  on  horseback,  official  couriers,  coolies, 
with  burdens  swinging  from  their  carrying  poles, 
footmen,  sedan  chairs,  mule  litters,  animals 
going  to  market  with  long  bags  of  grain  laid 
across  their  bare  backs,  pass  one  on  the  road. 
Animals  and  men  alike  walk  with  their  heads 
down.  They  watch  for  the  holes  and  the  pitfalls. 
Only  the  reckless  ones  go  faster  than  a  walk. 
No  wagon  could  survive  such  a  road.  A  stone 
bridge  three  feet  wide  may  span  a  watercourse 
of  ten  feet. 

Of  the  main  caravan  routes  the  roads  dwindle 
to  mere  paths,  often  mixed  up  in  such  confusion 
that  one  rarely  knows,  except  from  experience 
and  perfect  familiarity  with  the  road,  whether  he 
is  on  his  way  to  a  city  or  just  going  towards 
some  prosperous  farm  home.     There  have  never 


CHINESE  ROADS  AND  STREETS      167 

been  any  surveys,  just  a  blazing  of  the  way. 
Traffic  has  sought  the  easiest  way  between 
market  towns  and  the  roads  dodge  as  necessity 
demands.  Sometimes  an  official,  to  gain  favour 
with  the  people,  will  lay  out  a  new  road  or 
repair  an  old  bridge  but  it  is  forever  after 
neglected  and  soon  relapses  into  its  former 
condition.  It  is  entirely  a  private  activity  and 
the  removal  of  the  individual  removes  the  possi- 
bility of  permanency. 

Along  the  roads  at  intervals  are  littie  villages 
and  larger  market  towns.  Here  are  barns  in 
which  man  and  beast  may  rest  for  the  noontide 
or  the  night.  Bams  they  are  to  the  American 
traveller.  The  caravan  drivers  and  the  wheel- 
barrow men  spread  straw  over  a  portion  of  the 
dirt  floor,  spread  out  their  blankets  and  crawl  in. 
For  him  who  has  more  money  there  may  be 
semi-privacy  in  a  dark  hole  of  a  room  in  which 
is  found  a  rude  bed  but  the  blankets  and  the 
straw  are  all  the  same. 

These  villages  and  market  towns  have  the 
same  stamp  of  lack  of  plan  as  the  roads.  The 
town  was  probably  started  by  a  few  who  banded 
themselves  for  mutual  protection  and  trade. 
They  selected  a  spot  probably  with  the  help  of 
a  fortune-teller  which  bore  the  occult  marks  of 
being  a  lucky  spot.  They  left  a  space  through 
the  middle  of,  perhaps,  twenty  feet  in  width  for 
the  main  street.     On  either  side  they  have  built 


168    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

their  houses,  roof  joining  roof,  until  the  cats  can 
run  upon  the  continuous  roof  line  from  one 
end  of  the  place  to  the  other.  If  the  place  hap- 
pens to  require  a  cross  street  the  line  is 
broken  and  the  roof  lines  form  right  angles  with 
each  other.  At  the  ends  of  the  streets  they  have 
erected  a  gateway  which  they  close  at  night 
shutting  out  effectually  any  night  prowlers.  Up 
and  down  these  streets  the  night  watchman 
holds  his  vigil  at  irregular  intervals,  beating  his 
gong,  blowing  his  fog-horn  or  sounding  his  bam- 
boo rattles  as  the  local  custom  may  dictate. 

By  mutual  agreement  the  market  towns  have 
divided  the  time  for  their  respective  market  days 
so  that  no  two  near-by  places  conflict.  Two  days 
in  each  ten  are  allotted  to  each  place.  This 
place  has  the  first  and  sixth,  the  eleventh  and 
sixteenth.  The  next  place  has  the  second  and 
seventh,  and  the  twelfth  and  seventeenth.  So 
the  series  go.  Merchants  travel  from  one  to 
another.  Spreading  their  wares  out  on  some 
empty  space  of  ground,  they  are  ready  for  cus- 
tomers. Approach  one  of  these  places  on  its 
market  day  and  the  winding  paths  reaching  out 
to  the  four  points  of  the  compass  are  marked  by 
living  processions  of  men  and  women  coming  in 
from  their  country  homes  to  barter  and  trade. 

The  names  of  some  of  the  towns  are  as  edifying 
as  those  found  in  America  and  England.  Here 
are   a  few  translated  into  English.     There   are 


CHINESE  ROADS  AND  STREETS      169 

Ravens'  Nest,  Old  Man's  Barn,  Continually  at 
the  Mountain  Top,  Great  Willows,  Canal  Reser- 
voir, Red  Heart,  Sun  Peacock,  Bridge  of  the 
Djao  Family  and  so  on.  Many  are  named  after 
some  family  and  become  the  Village  of  the  Djou, 
Chen,  Wang,  Liu,  Li  or  Djang  Family  as  the 
case  may  be.  In  certain  sections  these  latter 
villages  will  not  let  any  one  live  in  them  that  is 
not  of  that  surname.  As  there  are  only  between 
one  and  two  hundred  surnames  in  all  of  China  it 
is  not  difificult  to  find  sufficient  of  one  name  to 
make  up  a  village. 

Most  of  these  villages  have  back  streets. 
Caravans  can  go  through  the  place  at  times. 
But  the  rough  cobble-boulder  stone  pavement  is 
difBcult  for  the  travel  of  animals.  A  market  day 
completely  fills  it  with  humanity.  Men  work 
their  dough,  fit  up  their  mud  ovens  and  bake 
their  doughnuts,  rice  cakes  and  noodles  by  the 
side  of  the  street.  The  travelling  merchants 
almost  touch  each  other  from  the  two  sides  of 
the  narrow  passage.  Men  and  boys  with 
various  sweetmeats  and  eatables  walk  up  and 
down  in  the  crowd  seeking  purchasers.  So  the 
caravans  take  the  back  street  and  circle  out  be- 
yond the  surging  throng.  That  path  at  the 
back  grew  up  just  like  any  part  of  the  main 
road.  It  was  a  case  of  necessity  and  much 
travel  has  made  it  a  road.  It,  too,  dodges  the 
ponds,  the  irregular  projecting  rear  ends  of  the 


170    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

successive    houses    and   the   edges   of   near-by 
fields. 

"  One  day  through  a  primitive  wood 
A  calf  walked  home  as  all  good  calves  should ; 
But  made  a  trail  all  bent  askew, 
A  crooked  trail  as  all  calves  do. 
Since  then  two  hundred  years  have  fled, 
And  I  infer  the  calf  is  dead. 
But  still  he  left  behind  his  trail 
And  thereby  hangs  a  mortal  tale. 
The  trail  was  taken  up  next  day 
By  a  lone  dog  that  passed  that  way. 
And  then  a  wise  bell-wether  sheep 
Pursued  the  trail  o'er  vale  and  steep, 
And  drew  the  flock  behind  him,  too, 
As  good  bell-wethers  always  do. 
And  from  that  day  o'er  vale  and  glade, 
Through  those  old  woods  a  path  was  made, 
And  many  men  wound  in  and  out, 
And  dodged  and  turned  and  bent  about. 
And  uttered  words  of  righteous  wrath, 
Because  'twas  such  a  crooked  path; 
But  still  they  followed — do  not  laugh  — 
The  first  migration  of  that  calf, 
And  through  this  winding  woodway  stalked 
Because  he  wabbled  when  he  walked. 
This  forest  path  became  a  lane 
That  bent  and  turned  and  turned  again ; 
This  crooked  lane  became  a  road. 
Where  many  a  poor  horse  with  his  load. 
Toiled  on  beneath  the  burning  sun. 
And  travelled  some  three  miles  in  one. 


Travelling  on  the  road  in  sedan  chairs  with  wheelbarrows  as 
freight  cars. 


Entrance  to  Chu  Cheo  city,  showing  rut  of  wheelbarrow  in 
paving  stones ;  city  gates,  wall  and  moat ;  and  a  wayside 
restaurant. 


CHINESE  ROADS  AND  STREETS      171 

And  thus  a  century  and  a  half 
They  trod  the  footsteps  of  that  calf. 
The  years  passed  on  in  swiftness  fleet, 
The  road  became  a  village  street, 
And  this,  before  men  were  aware, 
A  city's  crowded  thoroughfare. 
And  soon  the  central  street  was  this 
Of  a  renowned  metropolis. 
And  men  two  centuries  and  a  half 
Trod  in  the  footsteps  of  that  calf; 
Each  day  a  hundred  thousand  rout 
Followed  the  zigzag  calf  about ; 
And  o'er  his  crooked  journey  went 
The  traffic  of  a  continent. 
A  hundred  thousand  men  were  led 
By  a  calf  near  three  centuries  dead." 

This  was  written  in  derision  of  a  certain 
American  city,  but  it  is  an  ideal  description  of 
Chinese  roads  and  streets.  Their  roads  have 
been  dodging  because  a  stone  was  there  and  no 
man  took  the  trouble  to  remove  it.  They  dodged 
again  because  the  spot  was  a  lucky  one  on  which 
to  build  a  signal  mound.  Then  some  fortune- 
teller decided  that  Li  Hung  Chang  should  find 
the  luckiest  spot  for  his  private  burial  ground 
immediately  across  the  great  highway.  And  he 
paid  the  money  to  the  local  town  heads  and  they 
ordered  the  road  to  dodge.  Rains  have  come 
and  washed  out  the  main  road.  Then  the  cara- 
vans wandered  off  in  the  fields  and  found  another 
path  for  the  road  and  it  stayed  there.     Rain  has 


172    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

not  come  and  the  official  has  closed  the  city  gate 
through  which  the  main  traffic  goes  and  the  sweat- 
ing weary  wheelbarrow  men  have  pushed  their 
squeaking  barrows  around  to  another  gate  to 
appease  an  angry  god. 

So  have  they  built  their  homes  and  their  tem- 
ples and  their  public  buildings.  Born  of  fear, 
filled  with  selfishness,  seeking  luck,  as  chance 
dictated  or  to  appease  some  god  or  demon,  they 
have  constructed  their  lives,  their  possessions  and 
all  their  hopes.  No  wonder  the  Chinese  have 
so  slowly  awakened  to  the  great  task  of  regener- 
ation. To  straighten  out  the  tangles  in  which 
King  Custom  has  for  ages  bound  them  is  a  task 
before  which  any  nation  might  shrink. 


XVII 

WHEN  WE  GO  ITINERATING 

WE  are   starting   for   a  ten   days'    trip 
through  the  market  towns  to  the  west 
and  north  of  our  station.     The  region 
through  which  we  shall  pass  is  a  mountainous 
country  whose  cozy  valleys  are  filled  with  com- 
fortable farm  homes  and  terraced   fields.     The 
people  are  mostly  uneducated,  but  thrifty  and  self- 
reliant.     One  hundred  miles  northwest  of  Chu 
Cheo  is  the  Presbyterian  station  at  Hwaiyuen, 
which  we  intend  making  the  farthest  point  of  our 
journey.     There  will  be  three  men  in  our  party, 
the  missionary   and   two   Chinese.     Chen  is  an 
evangelist  and  Ding  will  have  as  his  business  the 
caring  for  the  animals  and  baggage.     We  will 
use  three  animals,  one  horse  and  two  donkeys. 
Chen  will    ride  one  donkey  'and  the  other  will 
carry  extra  baggage.    Ding  will  walk.    We  have 
long  bedding  bags  which  are  laid  across  our  sad- 
dles.    These  contain  our  blankets,  extra  clothes, 
toilet  articles  and  money.    The  extra  donkey  has 
a  hundred  pounds  of   Gospels,   calendars,  and 
Christian  booklets. 

Starting  early  we  will  strike  a  market  day  at 
Shi-gia-dzi,  fifteen  miles  west,  up  in  the  heart  of 

173 


174    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

the  low  mountains.  All  the  market  towns  have 
two  market  days  in  ten.  Those  of  this  place 
follow  the  numerals  two  and  seven  through  the 
days  of  the  month  and  we  are  starting  on  the 
seventeenth.  So  we  get  our  baggage  ready  the 
night  before  and  are  up  by  daylight,  getting  the 
animals  loaded  and  eating  a  light  lunch.  We 
give  the  last  instructions  to  the  medical  assistant, 
the  gardener  and  cow-man,  say  good-by  to  those 
who  will  abide  in  the  home  while  we  are  absent, 
and  follow  our  animals  over  the  rough  pavement 
out  to  the  city  gate  where  we  mount  and  ride 
away. 

Early  as  we  have  begun  our  journey,  the 
country  people  are  just  as  early.  We  pass  long 
lines  of  men,  women  and  children  bringing  in 
loads  of  grain  and  fuel  to  the  city.  Out  across 
the  plain,  over  the  ancient  bridges  and  by  the 
decaying  temples,  we  wend  our  way.  It  is 
autumn  and  the  morning  air  is  delightful.  Up 
over  the  mountain  ridges  we  ride,  stopping  a  few 
moments  to  look  away  into  the  distances  or  down 
on  the  farmsteads  in  the  valleys  beneath.  A 
pheasant  flies  out  of  our  path,  a  rabbit  or  a  moun- 
tain deer  bounds  away  into  the  recesses  of  the 
rocks.  Oh,  it  is  delightful  up  on  the  mountain 
tops  where  everything  is  clean  and  pure. 

Two-thirds  of  the  distance  to  the  first  market 
town  has  been  traversed  when  we  begin  over- 
taking those  going  the  same   way  as  we  are. 


WHEN  WE  GO  ITINERATING        175 

They  are  bound  for  the  same  destination  and  will 
make  up  part  of  the  audience  which  will  surround 
us  all  the  time  we  remain  in  the  place.  As  we 
come  nearer  to  the  place,  from  every  side  we  see 
long  lines  of  country  people  pouring  into  the 
already  crowded  street.  We  dismount,  put  our 
animals  into  Ding's  care,  load  our  arms  with 
literature  and  make  our  way  forward  with  the 
moving  throng.  We  select  some  convenient 
grave  or  broken  down  wall  on  the  outskirts  of 
the  crowd  where  we  will  not  interfere  with  the 
market  business  and  begin  our  work. 

By  the  time  we  have  reached  our  position  a 
dense  crowd  has  surrounded  us.  We  have  rung 
no  bell,  have  made  no  outcry  to  attract  the  people. 
Some  one  caught  sight  of  the  foreigner  as  we 
were  approaching  the  place  and  passed  on  the 
word  up  the  street,  "foreign  devil."  Foreigners 
are  rarely  seen  in  those  out-of-the-way  places  and 
natural  curiosity  brings  the  crowd  to  our  stand. 

We  begin  at  once  to  speak.  No  hymn  is  sung, 
no  prayer  publicly  offered.  When  we  dismounted 
from  our  animals  a  silent  prayer  went  up  from 
our  hearts.  Now  we  seek  to  win  the  crowd's  good 
will  and  gain  a  hearing  for  the  Gospel  message. 
How  do  we  preach  to  them  ?  We  begin  by  tell- 
ing them  that  we  have  come  ten  thousand  miles 
with  a  message  which  has  universally  brought 
joy  to  all  who  have  received  it.  They  are  inter- 
ested.    We  ask  if  any  one  among  them  has  found 


176    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

the  goal  of  happiness  for  which  they  have  been 
so  intensely  seeking.  No  one  is  willing  to  ac- 
knowledge that  he  has.  We  bring  to  their  minds 
that  all  their  worship  is  directed  towards  the 
power  of  darkness,  the  devil ;  and  there  is  not  a 
dissenting  voice.  We  remind  them  that  the  fear 
of  death  has  a  hold  upon  every  heart  among 
them. 

'<  Heaven  is  a  coffin's  lid;  earth  is  the  coffin's  pit. 
Go  where  one  will  he  still  is  in  the  coffin  fit," 

they  say. 

Thus  we  open  the  way  to  speak  of  the  One 
God  who  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth, 
Him,  who  is  our  common  ancestor.  We  tell  of 
His  great  love  for  man  which  finally  led  Him  to 
give  His  only  Son  to  die  upon  the  cross  that, 
through  His  sacrifice  we  might  be  saved  from 
sin  for  eternal  life. 

In  the  midst  of  our  discourse  some  little  young- 
ster on  the  inner  circle  who  has  been  eagerly 
watching  every  move  of  the  foreigner  and  scan- 
ning his  whole  person,  suddenly  points  a  grimy 
finger  and  bursts  out,  **  He's  got  a  ^^/^  tooth." 
Instantly  the  foreigner,  who  has  been  smiling  at 
the  crowd  to  win  their  good  will,  finds  his  mouth 
the  target  of  the  eyes  of  the  entire  inner  circle 
and  other  grimy  fingers  are  pointing  out  the  in 
teresting  tooth.  It  is  useless  to  continue  the 
preaching.     Interest  is  now  directed  towards  the 


WHEN  WE  GO  ITINERATING        177 

foreign  hat,  clothes  and  shoes.  Some  one's  fingers 
are  fingering  the  pantaloons  to  see  if  the  cloth  is 
really  wool  or  leather. 

It  is  a  comparatively  easy  step  to  lead  their 
attention  from  foreign  clothes  to  the  books  and 
literature  in  hand.  The  price  of  a  Gospel  is 
mentioned  and  we  hold  it  up  to  view.  Instantly 
a  circle  of  hands  are  outstretched  and  the  mission- 
ary and  evangelist  can  scarcely  pass  out  the 
literature  to  supply  the  insistent  demand. 

When  the  demand  for  literature  subsides  a  little 
the  evangelist  takes  the  stand  and  farther  unfolds 
the  Story  of  Life.  The  personnel  of  the  crowd 
constantly  changes  and  we  alternate  preach- 
ing and  selling  the  literature.  Most  of  those 
who  buy  will  be  unable,  themselves,  to  read  the 
books  they  buy  but  every  village  has  its  scholar 
and  in  the  evening  the  crowd  will  gather  around 
him  as  he  reads  and  comments  upon  the  book. 

All  forenoon  long  we  hold  our  post  (or  grave) 
until  hunger  drives  us  to  seek  some  food.  Ding 
has  taken  the  animals  to  an  inn  and  they  are 
munching  contentedly  upon  their  straw  and  bran. 
It  will  be  difficult  on  a  market  day  to  obtain  a 
regular  meal.  The  cooks  are  too  busy  producing 
rice  cakes,  doughnuts  and  Chinese  sandwiches 
for  the  crowds  to  bother  preparing  a  regular 
dinner.  Neither  has  the  curiosity  of  the  people 
been  satisfied  and  they  swarm  about  the  foreigner 
wherever  he  goes.     For  us  to  enter  an  inn  or 


178    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

restaurant  would  mean  its  being  jammed  full  of 
people  in  short  order.  The  proprietor  could  do 
no  business.  We  hunt  around  until  we  find  a 
cup  of  tea,  some  peanuts,  rice  cakes  and  other 
eatables.  Then  adjourning  to  some  open  place 
where  the  crowd  can  look  to  their  heart's  content, 
we  eat  our  lunch. 

We  take  our  leave  of  the  people  and  push  on 
to  another  place.  In  one  day  we  may  travel 
twenty-five  miles  and  find  a  couple  of  markets  in 
full  sway.  A  theatrical  or  travelling  circus  may 
have  drawn  a  crowd  into  another  centre.  Late 
in  the  evening,  wearied  with  the  day's  work,  we 
draw  into  our  last  town  and  seek  an  inn. 

Foreigners  being  considered  rich,  we  are 
usually  shown  to  a  private  room  reserved  for 
officials  and  wealthy  travellers.  But  we  would 
prefer  the  open  room  and  a  bundle  of  straw  to 
the  dungeon-like  appearance  and  dirty  bed  of 
this  inner  room.  The  oil  dips  are  lighted  and 
distributed  about  the  inn.  The  landlord  and 
his  wife  are  preparing  the  supper.  Packs  are 
being  taken  from  the  backs  of  the  caravan  ani- 
mals. The  wheelbarrows  are  creaking  into  their 
place.  The  inn  servants  are  cutting  up  the  rice 
straw  for  the  horses  and  donkeys.  Caravan  men 
are  mending  their  saddles  and  feeding  their  ani- 
mals. We  sit  down  on  a  bench,  lean  back 
against  the  mud  wall  and,  in  the  light  of  the 
flickering  lamps,  watch  the  scene. 


WHEN  WE  GO  ITINERATING        179 

The  savour  of  the  cooking  food  as  it  is  wafted 
through  the  inn,  is  appetizing,  more  appetizing 
than  the  food  itself.  The  landlord  places  eggs, 
pork,  vegetables  and  the  ever-present  rice  before 
us.  It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  process  of 
cooking  or  separate  the  various  ingredients  used 
in  seasoning  ;  but  we  have  learned  to  eat  what  is 
set  before  us  and  ask  no  questions,  so  we  pro- 
duce our  own  chopsticks  and  draw  up  to  the 
table.  The  landlord  has  plenty  of  chopsticks  but 
they  have  been  wiped  so  often  by  the  greasy 
cloth  and  stuck  into  the  waistband  about  his 
dirty  outer  garment  that  we  prefer  using  our  own. 

Two  well-dressed  men  wander  in  while  we  are 
eating  but  politely  sit  off  to  the  side  and  chat 
with  others  during  the  meal.  '  When  we  are 
through  they  introduce  themselves  and  enter 
into  conversation.  They  have  heard  that  we  are 
considering  the  advisability  of  opening  a  preach- 
ing hall  in  their  town.  They  are  sure  the  people 
will  be  glad  to  have  us  do  so  and  they  have  some 
property  in  a  very  desirable  location  for  such  an 
enterprise.  We  had  wondered  at  their  extreme 
politeness  but  it  is  now  all  clear.  They  are 
anxious  to  dispose  of  some  property  to  the  for- 
eigner,—at  three  prices.  But  we  meet  them 
with  equal  politeness,  for  while  we  are  not  in 
position  to  consider  buying  their  land,  we  can 
sow  a  little  seed  by  the  wayside  and  perhaps 
some  may  fall  into  good  ground. 


180    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

The  younger  of  the  two  men  is  a  Moham- 
medan. He  can  give  no  reason  for  being  one 
save  that  his  father  was  a  believer  before  him 
and  that  his  belief  keeps  him  from  eating  pork. 
He,  however,  does  not  like  to  claim  that  it  has 
made  him  any  better  a  man  than  the  old  gentle- 
man who  has  accompanied  him. 

The  older  man  confesses  that  the  road  to 
heaven  is  hard  to  find,  but,  he  continues,  "  The 
road  leading  downward  is  wonderfully  easy  to 
enter  and  most  people  are  kept  busy  trying  to 
get  out  again.  The  road  up  is  so  narrow  and 
the  gate  is  hard  to  open."  He  gave  us  our  text. 
Far  into  the  night  we  forget  weariness  of  body 
and  talk  with  them  about  Him  who  is  "  the  Way 
of  Life,"  whose  **  yoke  is  easy  "  and  "  burden  is 
light."  Then  we  go  to  bed  and  forget  the  dirt 
floor,  the  animals  munching  away  at  their  food, 
the  rooster  perched  over  our  heads  and  all  the 
other  depressing  surroundings.  Oh,  blessed 
sleep,  that  can  banish  trouble  and  weariness  and 
gird  the  body  and  mind  for  another  day  of 
service  ! 

One  night  we  trailed  into  a  village  just  behind 
a  small  caravan.  Two  young  merchants  had 
been  to  Nanking  to  lay  in  new  merchandise  for 
their  up  country  store.  They  had  hired  a  driver 
with  his  four  animals  to  transport  them  and 
their  freight  over  the  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  of  caravan  road.     A  refugee  boy  had  at- 


WHEN  WE  GO  ITINERATING        181 

tached  himself  to  the  company.  The  driver  was 
giving  him  his  food  for  the  aid  he  could  render  on 
the  road.  We  watched  him  as  he  trudged  after 
the  animals.  His  coat  was  warm  but  his  thin 
cotton  trousers  were  torn  and  offered  no  protec- 
tion. Straw  sandals  were  upon  his  feet.  Provi- 
dence was  drawing  that  boy  and  ourselves  to- 
gether for  very  definite  purposes. 

It  was  the  first  day  of  December  but  the  day 
had  been  balmy  and  pleasant.  In  the  night  the 
weather  changed  and  cold  rain  began  to  fall.  By 
morning  it  had  turned  to  sleet  and  snow. 
Wrapped  in  our  blankets  we  suffered  from  the 
cold.  The  road  men  had  spread  straw  on  the 
floor  and  lain  up  close  to  each  other.  In  the 
middle  of  the  night  they  built  a  fire  in  the 
middle  of  the  dirt  floor  and  gathered  around  it 
until  the  morning  dawned.  The  roads  became 
a  bog  and  the  wind  blew  sleet  that  cut  through 
any  one  who  was  bold  enough  to  venture  out 
doors.  We  stayed  in  the  inn  until  the  following 
day  when  the  weather  moderated  and  the  sun 
shone  once  more.  There  in  that  inn  Lai-fu,  the 
refugee  boy,  came  to  us  and  has  been  with  us 
ever  since,  now  a  faithful  Christian  servant.  His 
story  is  told  in  another  chapter. 

As  we  journey  from  town  to  town  how  often  do 
the  appeals  from  the  sick  come.  We  take  along 
in  our  travelling  outfit  a  few  simple  remedies,  a 
pair  of  tooth  forceps,  a  lance  and  some  scissors 


182    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

with  bandages.  Many  simple  troubles  can  be 
thus  treated  while  we  are  on  the  road  but  the 
majority  of  the  sick  people  laid  at  our  feet  must 
be  told  to  come  to  our  hospital  at  the  station. 
One  dose  of  medicine  will  not  affect  a  cure.  We 
wish  for  the  power  of  One  who  by  the  touch  of 
His  hand  gave  sight  to  the  blind,  strength  to  the 
palsied  limb  and  health  to  the  fevered  body. 

Standing  by  the  side  of  a  sick  man's  bed  we 
tell  them  of  the  Saviour  who  not  only  healed  the 
body  but  saved  the  souls  of  men.  They  listen 
and  long  again  for  the  presence  of  Him.  The 
story  of  the  Great  Healer  is  an  attractive  one  to 
this  sick  world.  Under  the  shade  of  a  friendly 
tree  they  gather  about  us.  They  are  all  sick, 
sick  in  body  and  sick  in  soul.  China  in  herself 
has  no  Physician. 

So  pass  the  ten  days  we  have  taken  from  our 
station  work.  We  preach  on  temple  steps,  in 
inns,  at  private  homes,  to  groups  by  the  wayside, 
to  fellow  travellers  and  at  the  market  towns.  We 
reach  the  station  of  our  fellow  missionaries  and 
rest  a  day  before  returning.  It  is  sweet  to  talk 
with  a  coworker  in  the  English  tongue  once 
more.  They  are  glad  to  see  us.  Very  few  for- 
eigners' faces  do  they  see  during  the  main  part 
of  the  year. 

We  turn  our  faces  homeward.  After  living  in 
Chinese  inns  and  being  the  daily  target  of  thou- 
sands of  curious  Chinese  eyes,  home  and  all  it 


WHEN  WE  GO  ITINERATING        183 

means  looms  up  large.  Even  though  it  be  planted 
in  the  midst  of  heathenism,  there  is  no  place  like 
home.  We  do  not  tarry  much  by  the  way.  One 
hundred  miles  will  take  at  least  three  days.  We 
push  on  during  the  daytime,  preaching  to  the 
people  where  we  take  our  dinners  and  in  the  inns 
where  we  rest  at  night.  Upon  the  last  crest  of 
the  low  mountains,  we  look  across  the  plains  and 
see  the  three  pagodas  which  mark  the  city  of 
Chu  Cheo.  They  never  looked  so  attractive. 
But  it  is  only  when  one  has  taken  the  journey 
and  now  entering  his  own  gateway,  catches  up 
the  little  ones  and  places  them  upon  the  saddle 
and  thus  leading  his  horse,  walks  up  to  his  own 
door-steps ;  it  is  only  then  that  one  can  appreci- 
ate to  the  full  measure  the  Christian  mission 
home. 


XVIII 

THE  CHINESE  EVANGELIST 

WE  sometimes  use  the  word  "  born  "  with 
the  meaning  of  natural  or  ingrained. 
We  speak  of  a  man  being  a  born 
leader,  a  born  mechanic.  The  Chinese  evangeUst 
must  be  made  ;  he  is  not  born.  He  has  no  Chris- 
tian ancestry  back  of  him  from  whom  he  may  in- 
herit the  essential  qualities  to  fill  such  an  office. 
But  he  is  the  most  needed  man  in  the  new  Church 
in  China.  The  missionary  studies  every  new 
convert  long  and  prayerfully  to  see  whether  he 
may  possibly  qualify  for  this  important  office. 
He  knows  that  if  China  is  to  be  evangelized  it 
must  be  done  by  the  Chinese  themselves.  The 
training  of  the  proper  men  for  this  service  is, 
therefore,  one  of  the  most  important  duties  of  the 
missionary. 

The  Christians  meet  together  in  the  Sunday- 
school,  the  prayer-meeting  and  the  Christian 
Endeavour  Society.  They  frequently  go  out  in 
little  bands  and  speak  on  the  streets,  in  the  chap- 
els, at  private  homes.  They  invite  neighbours 
to  their  homes  at  the  time  of  evening  or  morning 
worship.  The  missionary  is  watching  their  daily 
conduct.     He   studies  them  when  they  are  as- 

184 


THE  CHINESE  EVANGELIST         185 

sailed  by  special  temptations  and  trials.  He 
knows  that  an  ability  to  speak  is  far  from  being 
the  chief  qualification  needed  in  the  true  evan- 
gelist. Sometimes  he  places  a  possible  candidate 
in  a  position  where  he  can  obtain  a  closer  knowl- 
edge of  the  man's  character.  He  is  taken  into 
the  compound  as  a  servant  or  put  as  keeper  of  a 
street  chapel.  Many  aspire  to  the  position  who 
are  wholly  unfitted  for  such  service.  They  must 
be  turned  back  and  gently  led  into  some  other 
channel  of  usefulness. 

Colportage  work  is  often  the  second  step  in  the 
training  of  evangelists.  The  Bible  societies  are 
constantly  seeking  reliable  men  whom  the  mis- 
sionary can  recommend  and  supervise.  These 
societies  bear  all  the  expense  of  the  colporters 
and  pay  them  a  reasonable  salary.  The  mission- 
ary outlines  the  routes  over  which  the  colporter 
will  travel,  acts  as  his  adviser  and  sends  his  re- 
ports to  the  Bible  society.  It  is  no  easy  task  to 
be  a  colporter.  A  copy  of  one  of  the  Gospels  is 
sold  for  about  one-half  cent  American  money,  yet 
the  average  colporter  will  be  unable  to  sell  more 
than  a  couple  of  hundred  in  a  month.  The  Chinese 
despise  one  of  their  nationality  who  will  become 
a  Christian.  They  taunt  him  with  following  the 
foreigner  and  '*  eating  the  foreign  doctrine."  He 
must  be  a  skillful  handler  of  men,  indeed,  who 
excells  in  the  selling  of  Scriptures  to  the  Chinese. 
These  men  must  carry  their  stock-in-trade  from 


186    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

place  to  place  upon  their  own  shoulders.  They 
travel  in  summer  heat  and  winter  cold.  Petty 
persecution  and  strong  temptation  assail  them. 
He  who  successfully  accomplishes  a  year  of 
labour  as  a  colporter,  can  be  counted  as  having 
passed  the  second  step  which  leads  to  the  office 
of  an  evangelist. 

The  next  step  in  his  promotion  is  the  placing 
of  him  in  a  street  chapel  not  far  from  the  home 
of  the  missionary.  His  mornings  must  now  be 
given  to  study  and  his  afternoons  to  preaching. 
He  follows  a  carefully-outlined  course  of  Bible- 
study.  When  the  missionary  travels  out  through 
the  country  he  finds  no  one  better  fitted  to  ac- 
company him  on  such  itineraries  than  a  man 
who  has  been  all  over  the  ground  as  a  colporter. 
Such  a  helper  can  lead  him  to  homes  and  villages 
that  have  shown  themselves  favourable  to  the 
Gospel.  The  missionary  more  closely  scrutinizes 
the  man's  preaching  and  conduct.  Little  faults 
can  be  corrected  and  good  points  encouraged. 
Close  bonds  of  fellowship  and  sympathy  become 
established  between  the  foreigner  and  the  Chi- 
nese helper. 

The  final  instruction  given  in  this  college  of 
evangelism  is  the  gathering,  year  by  year,  of  the 
helpers  into  a  general  Bible  institute.  At  some 
convenient  time  in  the  year  they  come  together 
from  all  the  stations  into  some  central  point  and 
there  for  a  few  weeks  do  actual  class  work  and 


r 

.JE^i^HI 

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W'  '  ^ ' 

^^I'M 

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^41^    .<K^^^. 

'■P*«<5' 

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w 


THE  CHINESE  EVANGELIST         187 

take  notes  on  lectures.  The  various  missionaries 
have  in  charge  their  respective  departments  of 
Bible  geography,  Bible  history,  church  history, 
hermeneutics,  homiletics,  etc.  Each  speaker 
gives  a  course  of  a  week's  lectures  in  his  depart- 
ment and  makes  way  for  the  next  course.  The 
Chinese  prepare  outlines  of  sermons  and  have 
them  criticised.  Mission  difficulties  and  mission 
polity  are  discussed  with  them  and  among  them. 
They  are  taught  the  principles  of  leadership. 

By  means  of  such  training  have  many  of  the 
most  trusted  evangelists  in  China  been  fitted  for 
the  positions  of  trust  they  are  holding.  They  have 
been  taken  from  all  walks  of  life.  In  our  own  circle 
of  workers,  Wu  Li-Kwan  was  a  boatman,  Shi 
Gwei-Biao  was  a  story-teller,  Chen  Li-Seng  was  a 
teacher,  Koh  was  a  photographer  and  Wang 
Yung-Seng  was  his  assistant.  It  has  taken  long 
years  to  train  some  of  them.  Others  showed 
promise  from  the  first  of  being  fitted  for  the  serv- 
ice. When  they  have  proven  themselves  worthy 
and  capable  of  bearing  responsibilities  of  service, 
they  are  sent  out  to  the  villages  where  they  open 
chapels,  build  up  local  churches  and  work  in  con- 
junction with  the  missionary  to  evangelize  the 
surrounding  regions. 

To  all  of  them  come  temptations  and  petty 
persecutions.  They  are  reviled  and  hated  by 
their  countrymen  who  sneeringly  speak  of  them 
as  **  eating  the  foreign  doctrine,"  since  they  are 


188    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

under  the  pay  of  the  missionary  society.  One 
day  Mr.  Shi,  the  story-teller,  was  preaching  from 
the  text,  **  Whosoever  smiteth  thee  on  the  right 
cheek,  turn  to  him  the  other  also."  A  man 
stepped  up  to  him  from  the  audience  and  hit  him 
on  the  side  of  the  face.  Shi's  face  reddened  and 
the  hot  blood  went  tingling  to  his  finger-tips. 
He  started  towards  the  man,  stopped,  then  turned 
the  other  side  of  his  face  to  the  stranger,  and  said, 
**  Hit  the  other  side,  friend."  There  was  no 
quarrel  that  day. 

Once  he  was  called  before  a  very  anti-foreign 
official  as  a  witness.  The  official  sneeringly  asked 
him  if  he  had  accepted  the  doctrine  of  the  **  for- 
eign devils."     He  confessed  that  he  had. 

"  Perhaps  you  would  like  to  preach  to  us," 
jeered  the  official. 

**  If  I  should  say  what  I  know  of  the  doctrine, 
your  excellency  would  say  that  you  knew  more. 
It  is,  however,  in  your  power  to  hear  it,  should 
you  so  command,"  was  the  steady  reply. 

When  the  missionary  sends  out  one  of  these 
trained  men  to  open  and  build  up  an  outstation, 
it  becomes  a  mark  of  the  missionary's  deepest 
faith  in  him.  Strong  temptations  will  assail  the 
evangelist.  Money  will  be  offered  him  if  he  will 
traffic  in  the  good  name  of  the  Church.  Foreign 
influence  in  China  is  strong.  Officials  fear  and 
tremble  before  it.  In  all  the  riots  and  rebellions 
which  the  Chinese  have  led  against  foreigners 


THE  CHINESE  EVANGELIST         189 

they  have  invariably  been  overcome  by  superior 
forces  and  indemnities  extracted  from  them  for 
the  property  they  have  destroyed.  A  dread  of 
becoming  mixed  up  in  any  business  in  which  the 
foreigners  are  concerned  has  grown  upon  the 
officials.  When  legal  cases  have  been  brought 
before  them  and  any  suggestion  has  been  dropped 
that  the  litigants  might  be  connected  with  the 
foreigners,  the  officials  have  either  rendered  un- 
just decisions  or  refused  to  act  in  the  case. 

The  common  people  have  readily  discovered 
this  weakness  in  their  rulers  and  have  conse- 
quently sought  alliance  with  foreigners.  Protes- 
tant missionaries  have  in  most  cases  refused  to 
meddle  in  legal  affairs,  except  in  cases  of  extreme 
persecution,  and  the  lawless  characters  among 
the  people  have  turned  to  the  native  evangelists 
and  sought  to  entangle  them.  In  the  past  few 
years  thousands  of  Chinese  have  sought  member- 
ship with  the  Christians  for  no  other  reason  than 
to  compel  the  officials  to  decide  their  long  stand- 
ing law  cases  in  their  favour. 

Thus  it  has  fallen  upon  the  Chinese  evangelist 
to  not  only  withstand  direct  temptation  to  him- 
self, but  also  to  sift  the  mass  of  inquirers  who 
have  been  gathering  about  the  work.  He  who  is 
a  Chinese  himself  is  usually  better  qualified  to 
separate  the  real  inquirer  from  the  false  than  is 
the  missionary  who  at  best  is  an  alien  in  their 
country.     Hence  it  follows  that  the  missionary 


190    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

should  be  in  close  fellowship  with  his  evangelists. 
He  must  have  their  confidence  and  give  them 
his.  Over  and  over  they  prove  themselves  worthy 
of  all  the  trust  imposed  in  them.  The  persecu- 
tions borne  and  the  temptations  resisted  bring 
them  into  a  fellowship  in  the  sufferings  of  Jesus 
Christ  and  an  experimental  knowledge  of  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  which  make  them  worthy 
coworkers,  indeed,  with  the  most  consecrated  of 
missionaries.  One  time  a  missionary  was  travel- 
ling with  the  Mr.  Shi  mentioned  above.  Evening 
had  brought  them  to  an  inn  so  crowded  full  of 
caravan  animals  and  packs  that  the  only  resting 
place  for  them  that  night  was  in  the  open  court 
within  the  quadrangle  formed  by  the  stables. 
They  spread  some  straw  upon  the  rough  stones 
covering  the  court,  knelt  together  in  their  evening 
prayer  and  rolled  themselves  up  in  their  blankets. 

As  they  lay  looking  up  at  the  stars  the  mis- 
sionary suddenly  asked,  "  Shi,  is  Jesus  Christ  real 
to  you  ?  " 

"  Real  to  me  ?  He  is  more  real  to  me  than 
you  are." 

"  Why,  how  can  that  be  ?  I  am  right  here  by 
you.  You  can  see  me,  feel  me,  hear  me.  Can 
the  Master  be  more  real  than  that?" 

**  Older  brother,  you  sometimes  misunderstand 
me  and  sometimes  I  misunderstand  you ;  but 
Christ  never  misunderstands  me.  He  is  real  to 
me,  very  real." 


THE  CHINESE  EVANGELIST         191 

Some  of  these  men  have  fallen.  Standing 
alone  in  the  midst  of  new  and  unexpected 
temptations  it  is  no  wonder  that  some  of  them 
were  overwhelmed.  They  have  risen  again, 
profited  by  the  fall.  As  the  work  has  grown  the 
band  of  evangelists  has  grown  with  it.  They 
have  entered  into  fellowship  with  one  another 
and  counselled  together  how  to  meet  the  difficult 
conditions.  Gradually  their  Christian  charac- 
ters are  winning  the  confidence  of  the  people 
until  some  have  not  only  become  sturdy  living 
epistles  of  the  Word  but  have  gained  a  com- 
manding moral  influence  among  the  people  of 
the  district  in  which  their  lives  have  been  cast. 
Such  lives  become  prophetic  of  the  days  com- 
ing when  China  shall  be  evangelized  by  her  own 
people. 


XIX 

THE  CHINESE  AS  GIVERS 

A  RICH  Chinese  is  usually  a  liberal  Chi- 
nese. He  gives  to  the  beggar  on  the 
street,  even  though  it  cements  the  beg- 
gar to  his  profession.  He  serves  rich  feasts  to 
his  friends  and  guests.  It  is  by  reason  of  his 
liberality  that  a  great  many  temples  and  schools 
are  built.  He,  for  merit's  sake,  will  build  and 
equip  ferries  across  the  rivers  ;  and,  for  the  good 
will  of  the  people,  will  construct  bridges  and 
mend  roads. 

To  make  a  fine  display  at  a  wedding  or  a 
funeral  all  Chinese  will  spend  their  last  cash  and 
all  they  may  be  able  to  borrow  from  their 
friends.  A  community  will  build  a  temple  in 
their  midst  and  establish  a  priest  within  its 
sanctuaries.  It  is  a  popular  error  among  them 
that  money  spent  for  others  accumulates  merit, 
and  merit  accumulated,  makes  entrance  into 
heaven  more  sure.  In  all  their  religious  and 
philanthropic  gifts  fear  of  the  devil  and  hope  of 
heaven  play  a  prominent  part.  By  the  free  use 
of  money  they  gain  social  and  legal  privileges  in 
their  courts ;  why  should  not  a  like  expenditure 

192 


THE  CHINESE  AS  GIVERS  193 

gain  for  them  certain  advantages  in  the  life  to 
come? 

Yet  in  spite  of  their  belief  in  the  power  of 
money  to  obtain  privileges  in  this  life  and  the 
life  to  come,  the  priests  in  the  temples,  built  by 
the  people,  frequently  find  it  difficult  to  drag 
their  living  out  of  their  unwilling  supporters. 
Temples  on  every  side  are  falling  into  decay. 
Perhaps  the  propaganda  of  missionaries  has 
made  the  people  doubt  the  power  of  the  idols 
and  hence  has  lessened  their  interest  in  the 
temples.  Certain  it  is,  that  it  often  takes  the 
alluring  festivities  of  an  idol  procession  or 
similar  attraction  to  draw  the  people  together  in 
worship  and  obtain  money  from  them  for  the  re- 
pair of  some  neglected  temple.  Other  means  of 
support  for  the  temples  have  been  sought  for. 
Some  have  been  endowed.  Mountain  lands  have 
been  deeded  to  others  and  the  priests  have 
allowed  the  timber  to  grow  or  constructed  lime- 
kilns as  a  source  of  revenue.  Such  properties 
are  non-taxable  the  same  as  property  held  for 
religious  purposes  in  America. 

Is  it  strange  then,  that  men,  when  taught  the 
power  of  Christ  to  overcome  evil  and  the  accept- 
ance of  Him  as  a  sure  means  to  the  obtaining 
of  an  entrance  into  heaven,  should  see  in  the 
Christian  faith  not  only  a  means  of  eternal 
salvation  but  also  a  release  from  financial 
obligations?     A    great   army   in   the   ranks   of 


194    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

American  Christians  have  seemed  to  so  regard 
Christianity.  Some  have  even  taken  pride  in 
the  fact  that  their  religion  had  cost  them  almost 
nothing.  It  takes  time  and  patience  and  ex- 
ample to  inoculate  the  Christian  newly  born  out 
of  heathenism,  with  the  possibilities  of  joy  to  be 
found  in  the  practice  of  **  this  grace  also." 

In  the  earlier  days  of  the  Foreign  Christian 
Mission  work  in  China,  some  of  the  missionaries 
told  the  few  Chinese  Christians  assembled  in 
conference  that  for  every  dollar  the  Chinese 
would  raise  they  would  give  ten  dollars.  The 
Chinese  had  been  very,  very  slow  in  opening  up 
their  purses  to  the  spread  of  the  Gospel.  They 
were  from  the  ranks  of  the  poorer  classes  and 
very  little  money  passed  through  their  hands 
during  the  course  of  a  year.  One  or  two  of 
them,  however,  were  impressed  with  the  import 
of  the  offer.  For  them  to  raise  ten  dollars  would 
mean  a  gift  of  one  hundred  dollars  from  the  mis- 
sionaries. Thirty  dollars  would  call  for  three 
hundred  dollars.  In  a  little  informal  committee 
meeting  held  at  the  end  of  the  conference,  they 
laid  their  plans  and  went  to  work.  At  the  next 
conference  they  laid  thirty  dollars  as  their  offer- 
ing on  the  table  and  asked  the  missionaries  to 
put  three  hundred  dollars  by  its  side.  That 
offering  was  the  beginning  of  tithing  for  some  of 
the  Chinese. 

Every  year  each  station  now  brings  in  its  offer- 


THE  CHINESE  AS  GIVERS  195 

ings  for  the  general  fund  thus  started.  Its 
amount  is  several  times  the  first  offering.  When 
comparing  the  respective  liberality  of  American 
and  Chinese  Christians  we  must  remember  the 
buying  value  of  a  dollar  in  the  two  countries  and 
also  the  amount  of  the  daily  wage  paid  to  work- 
men. The  Chinese  are  at  present  giving  an 
average  of  twenty  cents  per  member  for  this  their 
"foreign  mission"  offering,  or  the  value  of  two 
days'  wages.  Outside  of  the  money  given  for 
local  work,  American  Christians  do  not  yet  give 
an  average  of  one  day's  wages  towards  the  spread 
of  the  Gospel. 

With  the  fund  thus  started  by  the  Chinese  in 
the  foreign  Christian  mission,  they  have  erected 
a  fine  street  chapel  near  the  busy  river  landing 
in  Nanking.  They  have  mortgaged  buildings  in 
interior  points  for  the  opening  of  other  centres. 
For  one  year  they  paid  the  salary  of  an  evangel- 
ist who  was  sent  to  aid  in  the  opening  of  a  new 
station  in  the  northern  part  of  Anhwui  Province. 

The  evangelists  in  the  Chu  Cheo  district  have 
nearly  all  gained  the  right  to  be  enrolled  in  the 
ranks  of  tithe  givers.  One-twentieth  of  their  in- 
comes goes  directly  to  evangelistic  work  in  the 
district.  For  four  years  they  have  supported  one 
of  their  number  as  an  extra  evangelist.  He 
works  under  their  committee,  makes  a  tour  of 
the  outstations  and  ministers  in  the  homes  of  the 
Christians. 


196    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

**  The  poor  ye  have  always  with  you."  The 
northern  famines  have  driven  many  southward  to 
the  granaries  of  Nanking  and  Chinkiang.  These 
poor  refugees  did  not  always  reach  their  destina- 
tion. Sick  and  starving  they  have  fallen  by  the 
wayside,  in  most  cases  to  die  uncared  for.  Some 
have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Christians. 
Clothes  have  been  put  upon  their  backs.  Little 
huts  have  been  built  for  them.  They  have  been 
assisted  in  starting  once  more  on  the  road  to  self- 
support.  They  can  sell  peanuts,  doughnuts,  or 
sweetmeats  on  the  streets  or  cut  fuel  on  the  hills 
and  find  ready  sale  for  it  in  the  towns.  Some  of 
our  most  honoured  Christians  have  thus  been 
saved  and  won. 

Tang,  a  small  farmer,  died  suddenly.  He  did 
not  know  the  danger  of  eating  tainted  meat  but 
it  cost  him  his  life.  His  little  girl  died  at  the 
same  time.  There  was  no  money  in  the  home. 
His  wife  and  baby  were  helpless.  The  Christians 
bought  a  respectable  coffin  and  paid  the  funeral 
expenses.  They  aided  his  wife  in  renting  the 
little  piece  of  property  and  placed  her  in  a  posi- 
tion to  help  herself. 

Suen,  another  farmer,  died  one  summer  of 
dysentery.  His  wife  was  sick  with  consumption. 
The  Christians  buried  him  and  raised  a  sufBcient 
sum  to  send  his  wife  back  to  her  parents'  home 
where  she  could  be  cared  for.  Djao  was  an 
educated  man  whom  famine  had  driven  from  his 


THE  CHINESE  AS  GIVERS  197 

northern  home.  He  was  helped  back  from  beg- 
gary and  became  a  Christian.  The  Christians 
raised  a  sum  sufficient  to  keep  him  and  sohcited 
scholars  that  he  might  open  a  school  in  their 
village.     He  is  now  one  of  our  strong  evangel- 

The  general  Chinese  convention  meets  annually 
at  the  various  stations.     In  order  that  as  many 
may  attend  as  possible,  the  local  Christians  take 
pride  and  joy  in  entertaining  all  who  will  come 
free  of  cost.     Buildings  are  emptied  and  rooms 
turned  into  one  great  bed.     The  floor  is  covered 
with  straw  and  the  men  spread  their  blankets 
upon   it  and   sleep  much   as   was   done  in  the 
pioneer  meetings  held  by  our  fathers  in  America. 
The  women  are  lodged  in  other  quarters  in  like 
manner.     The  cooking  is  done  at  one  large  oven 
or  stove  and  tables  spread  in  one  enclosure.     As 
many  as  one  hundred  and  forty  have  been  thus 
entertained  at  an  annual  Chinese  convention.     A 
committee  has  charge  of  the  food  supply  and  one 
or  two  are  detailed  to  do  the  cooking.     None  of 
the  preparations  are  elaborate  except  in  quantity. 
A  hog,  sheep,  numbers  of  chickens  and  a  quantity 
of  fish  are  laid  in  stock  for  the  campaign.     The 
inspiration  generated  in  such  gatherings  is  un- 
surpassed  in  any  land. 

By  little  gifts  the  Chinese  Christians  express 
their  love  towards  the  missionaries.  On  Christ- 
mas day  gifts  come  to  as  well  as  go  out  from  the 


198    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

missionary.  The  Chinese  remember  the  birth- 
days of  the  little  children  in  the  mission  home. 
The  gifts  consist  of  brilliant  garments  for  the 
babies,  beautifully  embroidered  shoes  for  the 
women,  sweet  potatoes  and  sweetmeats  for  the 
table,  goats  for  meat,  porcelain,  etc. 

When  F.  M.  Rains,  secretary  of  the  Foreign 
Christian  Missionary  Society,  visited  the  field,  in 
Chu  Cheo  he  was  met  at  the  city  gate  by  the  Chris- 
tians with  a  string  of  ten  thousand  firecrackers 
wound  on  a  bamboo  pole.  They  fired  the  crack- 
ers as  they  marched  ahead  of  his  chair,  up  the 
street,  to  the  church  which  they  had  gaily  deco- 
rated for  the  occasion.  In  other  instances  the 
foreign  visitors  are  presented  with  scrolls  on  silk 
and  given  elaborate  feasts.  Missionaries,  leaving 
on  furlough,  are  escorted  on  their  way  in  a  chair 
and  sometimes  the  Christians  will  show  their 
deep  affection  by  carrying  the  chair  themselves. 

There  are  other  ways  in  which  the  Chinese 
show  their  growing  liberality.  In  the  ministry 
of  giving  to  their  fellow  countrymen  they  shine 
most  brightly  and  contrast  most  strongly  with 
the  usual  heathen  selfish  indifference.  Some  of 
the  Christians  out  walking  on  Christmas  day, 
found  the  naked  body  of  a  little  girl  babe  thrown 
out  behind  a  temple  and  freezing  to  death. 
They  wrapped  it  in  their  own  coats  and  tenderly 
brought  it  to  the  hospital  where  they  spent  a  day 
trying  to  hold  life  in  the  body.     They  did  not 


THE  CHINESE  AS  GIVERS  199 

succeed  in  their  purpose  but  the  act  revealed 
their  passion  for  ministry. 

A  ten-year-old  boy  was  found  begging  by  the 
wayside.  The  toes  of  one  foot  had  been  frozen 
ofi.  They  picked  him  up  and  brought  him  to 
the  hospital.  His  body  was  covered  with  sores 
and  vermin.  He  was  cleaned  up  and  put  into 
better  clothes.  One  day  we  found  him  in  the 
room  with  our  ignorant  gateman.  They  were 
talking  over  something  between  them.  A  little 
later  we  heard  him,  as  he  sat  out  on  the  walk, 
slowly  repeating,  '*  Our — Father — who — art — in 
— heaven."  The  ignorant  gateman  had  been 
telling  him  what  he  could  about  Christ  and  had 
taught  him  the  Lord's  prayer. 

It  may  not  be  that  the  Chinese  are  giving 
large  sums  into  the  coffers  of  the  Church.  They 
are  not  giving  as  much  as  they  should  give. 
They  do  not  yet  understand  how  larger  gifts  can 
open  the  storehouses  of  God  so  that  by  giving 
they  shall  be  increased  in  basket  and  store  and 
receive  large  spiritual  blessings.  But,  year  by 
year,  as  the  missionary  watches  the  course  of 
their  liberality  increase  and  their  love  of  ministry 
grow  large,  he  sees  evidences  of  a  future  liber- 
ality in  the  Chinese  Church  which  may  put  to 
shame  those  in  more  civilized  lands. 


XX 

A  MISSIONARY  SANITARIUM 

**  "T^  EFORE  we  had  Kuling,"  said  a  mission- 
l"*^  ary  from  Hankow,  **some  one  fell  in 
M^J  our  ranks  every  year.  Each  spring  we 
would  find  ourselves  saying  under  our  breaths, 
*  Who  will  be  the  one  to  fall  this  year  ? '  It  was 
a  nightmare  to  us.  Kuling  has  been  a  life- 
saving  station."  That  is  the  experience  and 
history  throughout  the  Yangtse  valley.  Since 
the  Church  has  decided  that  what  she  wants  on 
the  mission  field  is  living  workers  and  not  mar- 
tyrs' graves,  missionaries  on  all  mission  fields 
have  been  establishing  sanitariums  in  favourable 
places.  Many  have  thus  been  saved  from  being 
sent  home  on  sick  leave  and  scores  of  lives  have 
been  spared  for  long  service  on  the  field. 

Until  about  1895  missionaries  in  the  Yangtse 
valley  were  obliged  to  remain  at  their  stations 
throughout  the  heat  of  the  summer.  Mothers 
fanned  their  children  to  sleep.  Extra  servants 
were  hired  to  pull  the  great  fans  which  were 
swung  over  the  tables  and  the  beds.  Sick  peo- 
ple were  sent  to  Japan  or  returned  to  the  home 
Jand.  Too  many  graves  were  being  dug  in 
China. 

200 


A  MISSIONARY  SANITARIUM        201 

Some  missionaries  who  had  secured  the  privi- 
lege of  building  stone  cottages  on  the  slopes  of 
the  Kuling  mountains,  conceived  the  plan  of  ob- 
taining possession  of  one  of  the  valleys  in  the 
tops  of  the  mountains  and  opening  it  for  all  who 
might  wish  to  come.  Like  every  other  innova- 
tion introduced  by  the  foreigners,  the  Chinese 
looked  upon  the  procedure  with  suspicion  and 
it  took  long,  patient,  persistent  action  before  the 
valley  was  thrown  open  to  occupation  by  for- 
eigners. 

Kuling  is  up  the  Yangtse  River  about  four 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  Shanghai.  This 
river  is  the  great  highway  over  which  all  pass  in 
reaching  this  **  valley  on  the  mountain  top." 
The  river  steamer  is  left  at  Kiukiang,  the  porce- 
lain market  of  China.  A  rest-house  with  con- 
veniences for  sleeping  and  the  preparing  of 
simple  meals  has  been  established  in  this  city  by 
the  Kuling  management.  Each  family  is  ac- 
companied by  their  servants,  carry  their  own 
bedding  and  provide  their  own  food.  Chair- 
bearers  with  light  open  chairs  wait  to  transport 
passengers  across  the  ten  miles  of  plain  and  five 
miles  of  mountain  climb.  Other  carriers  fasten 
the  baggage  to  their  carrying  poles  and  follow 
the  chair- bearers.  The  furniture,  bedding,  provi- 
sions, building  timber,  iron  roofing,  drugs,  crock- 
ery and  pictures  for  a  thousand  men,  women,  and 
children  have  been  carried  acrsi«*  ^i^e  plain  ai^d 


202    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

up  the  mountainside  on  the  shoulders  of  coolies. 
Pianos  and  organs  have  been  transported  up  the 
mountain.  Whole  houses  have  been  purchased 
in  Shanghai  and,  in  like  manner,  transported 
from  the  river  steamer  to  the  top  of  the  mountain. 
When  it  is  understood  that  up  the  mountain 
climb  there  are  four  long  flights  of  steep  stone 
stairways,  one  gains  a  faint  conception  of  the 
task.  Given  enough  Chinese  workmen  almost 
any  burden  can  be  moved.  The  men  who  do 
this  transporting  of  baggage  and  freight  receive 
high  wages  for  Chinese.  Being  largely  moun- 
tain men  they  are  used  to  climbing. 

Two  miles  away  from  the  entrance  to  the 
Kuling  valley  one  catches  his  first  glimpse  of 
the  Chinese  village  which  lies  just  at  the  "  Gap." 
After  passing  the  Gap,  the  valley,  with  its  slopes 
thickly  studded  with  the  stone  cottages,  bursts 
upon  the  traveller's  view.  The  valley  is  nearly 
two  miles  long  and  contains  nearly  two  hundred 
buildings. 

An  annually  elected  council  hold  rule  over  the 
valley.  A  paid  manager  remains  the  year  round 
upon  the  estate,  as  the  valley  is  technically  called. 
This  manager  oversees  workmen  as  they  build 
new  cottages  and  repair  the  older  ones ;  he 
guides  the  labourers  in  repairing  the  roads  and 
maintains  a  company  of  patrolmen  who  watch 
over  the  property.  In  the  summer  when  the 
residents  are  coming  up  the  mountain,  he  has 


A  MISSIONARY  SANITARIUM        203 

charge  of  the  great  army  who  carry  the  sedan 
chairs  and  transport  the  baggage.  In  filling  this 
difficult  office,  many  foreigners  have  come  and 
gone,  but  none  have  succeeded  better  than  John 
Berkin,  of  England,  who  fills  the  office  at  the 
present  time  (1907). 

The  Kuling  estate  is  granted  to  the  foreigners 
by  the  Chinese  government  upon  a  nine-hun- 
dred-and-ninety-nine-year  lease.  The  council 
give  a  deed  to  each  lot-holder  and  this  entitles 
him  to  a  vote  upon  all  questions  arising  in  the 
community.  No  Chinese  can  buy  or  live  within 
the  precincts  of  the  estate  except  as  a  servant  to 
a  foreigner.  Contractors  (Chinese)  have  shops 
at  the  Gap  and  stand  ready  to  build  or  repair 
houses.  Stone  is  the  universal  building  material. 
Cottages  are  usually  one  story  and  cost  from 
five  hundred  to  as  many  thousands  of  dol- 
lars. 

From  almost  any  point  in  the  valley  beautiful 
scenery  bursts  upon  one's  view.  Every  resident 
believes  his  home  to  be  situated  in  the  most  de- 
lightful spot  in  the  valley.  The  clouds  roll  up 
the  mountainside  and  into  the  cottage  doors. 
The  sunsets  are  beautiful  beyond  description. 
From  some  points  lower  ranges  of  mountains 
and  the  distant  Yangtse  can  be  plainly  seen. 
Mountain  springs  pour  out  their  pure  waters.  A 
stream  winds  down  the  valley  becoming  a  never- 
failing  joy  to  the  paddling  children.     Swimming 


204    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

pools,  tennis  courts,  pleasant  walks,  and  shady- 
nooks  have  been  spread  along  the  valley. 

A  union  church  opens  its  doors  to  all  denomi- 
nations and  all  nationalities.  Leading  mission- 
aries from  all  societies  fill  the  pulpit.  Through- 
out the  summer  a  Sunday-school  gathers  the 
children  together.  Lovers  of  music  band  to- 
gether and  furnish  a  sacred  concert  at  the  end  of 
each  season.  Loyal  Americans  celebrate  the 
Fourth  of  July,  and  a  day  of  sports  for  the  chil- 
dren is  an  annual  occurrence.  Medical,  evangel- 
istic and  educational  conferences  broaden  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  the  resting  missionaries. 
Probably  no  theme  receives  the  universal  atten- 
tion that  is  given  to  Christian  union. 

Young  missionaries  find  the  valley  a  retreat  to 
which  they  may  come  and  continue  uninter- 
rupted their  study  of  the  language.  The  spe- 
cially prepared  invalid  chairs  bring  up  their  loads 
of  men  and  women  who  have  been  prostrated  by 
uncongenial  climate  and  worn  nerves.  Up  in 
the  pure  mountain  air  a  new  lease  of  life  and 
strength  is  granted  them.  There  is  a  cemetery 
at  the  lower  end  of  the  valley  but  the  graves  are 
few. 

Some  years  ago  one  of  the  China  Inland  mis- 
sionaries presented  his  mission  with  some  fine 
school  buildings  which  he  had  erected  on  the 
estate.  This  mission,  not  being  prepared  to 
open  the  school  at  once  for  their  own  children, 


A  MISSIONARY  SANITARIUM        205 

have  leased  the  buildings  to  a  corporation  of 
missionaries  and  business  men.  These  have  es- 
tablished a  school  for  the  children  of  mission- 
aries and  foreigners  in  China.  Plans  are  now 
being  laid  for  the  establishment  of  a  larger  and 
permanent  school  at  the  place  for  the  same  pur- 
pose. Since  the  greatest  problem  before  the 
average  missionary  is  the  education  of  his  chil- 
dren, the  new  school  will  become  a  blessing  to 
the  missionary  body  in  China.  Without  such 
privileges  missionaries  must  teach  their  own  chil- 
dren until  they  reach  the  period  for  entering  high 
school  and  college  at  which  time  the  home  must 
be  broken  up  and  the  children  brought  to  the 
home  land  for  the  final  steps  in  their  education. 

Down  on  the  plains  at  the  stations,  the  little 
ones  growing  up  in  the  mission  homes  must  be 
guarded  both  physically  and  morally  from  con- 
tagion and  contamination.  A  missionary  mother 
was  one  day  telling  her  children  the  story  of 
Hagar  and  Ishmael.  She  told  them  how  the 
two  were  driven  out  into  the  wilderness  where 
they  could  find  no  water.  Hagar  left  Ishmael 
under  a  bush  and  went  away  for  she  could  not 
bear  to  see  him  die.  Then  God  showed  her  a 
spring  of  water  and  saved  their  lives.  The  mis- 
sionary children  listened  to  their  mother  with 
eager  interest  but  did  not  show  great  enthusiasm 
over  the  climax  of  the  narrative.  After  a 
moment  of  silence  one  of   the  boys  doubtfully 


206    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

asked  his  mother,  "  Mother,  was  the  water  in 
that  spring  boiled  ?  "  They  had  never  tasted  un- 
boiled water.  The  Chinese  soil  is  so  porous  and 
the  Chinese  are  so  unsanitary  in  their  habits  that 
the  missionaries  have  learned  by  bitter  experience 
to  always  boil  water  before  using  it  for  drinking 
purposes. 

The  missionary  takes  his  family  to  this  moun- 
tain top  for  the  summer  and,  with  his  heart  at 
rest,  returns  to  his  work  in  the  valley.  In  his  im- 
agination he  sees  his  little  ones  playing  in  the 
mountain  stream,  floating  their  boats  and  build- 
ing their  miniature  pebble  walls.  He  knows  his 
wife  is  growing  rested  and  strong.  If  any  ac- 
cident occurs  or  sickness  should  befall  them,  he 
knows  there  are  physicians  in  Kuling  who  will 
gladly  minister  to  them.  While  he  is  sweltering 
in  the  heat  of  the  plains  below,  he  knows  they 
are  sleeping  under  blankets  every  night.  With 
the  anxiety  for  his  loved  ones  taken  off  his 
mind,  he  can  rest  in  spite  of  the  heat  and 
quietly  do  the  work  needed  at  the  station. 

Three  thousand  Chinese  live  in  the  village 
at  the  Gap  and  minister  to  the  foreign  com- 
munity. Carpenters,  blacksmiths,  masons,  shoe- 
makers, tailors,  photographers,  tinsmiths,  gar- 
deners, milkmen,  and  storekeepers  flock  up  the 
mountainside  each  summer  and  build  or  repair 
their  own  rough  summer  homes.  They  will 
sell  flower  bulbs,  assist  in  carrying  lunch  baskets 


A  MISSIONARY  SANITARIUM        207 

on  a  picnic  excursion,  level  a  tennis  court, 
paint  an  iron  roof  or  build  a  house  as  the  case 
may  be. 

The  missionaries  do  not  forget  their  mission 
and  message  to  the  Chinese.  The  welfare  of 
these  "ministering  servants"  is  upon  the  hearts 
of  the  community.  The  drainage  and  sanitation 
of  the  Chinese  village  is  watched  as  closely  as  the 
valley  itself.  A  dispensary  is  maintained  by 
voluntary  contributions  from  the  foreigners  for 
the  Chinese.  Sickness  at  the  mountain  top  is  not 
so  common  even  among  the  Chinese,  but  in  the 
blasting  of  rock  accidents  will  happen.  In  the 
constant  going  back  and  forth  from  the  plain  be- 
low, disease  at  times  creeps  up  the  mountainside. 
Physicians  take  turns  at  the  dispensary  in  attend- 
ing to  the  sick  or  injured  Chinese. 

In  connection  with  the  dispensary  is  a  street 
chapel  in  which  the  evangelists  hold  nightly 
services.  Lantern  slides  are  shown  with  effect 
and  much  religious  literature  is  sold.  On  Sun- 
day afternoon  the  union  church  building  is 
thrown  open  to  the  Chinese.  This  is  more  for 
the  servants  who  are  directly  connected  with  the 
missionary  homes,  many  of  whom  are  Christians. 
The  best  Chinese  speakers  among  the  mission- 
aries fill  the  pulpit  at  these  services.  On  Thurs- 
day afternoons  a  service  for  the  Chinese  women 
is  held  by  the  missionary  women. 

The  season  passes  and  the  missionary  takes 


208    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

his  family  back  to  the  resident  station.  They 
have  renewed  their  strength.  The  children  for 
a  time  have  had  the  privilege  of  mingling  with 
other  children  of  their  own  race  and  tongue. 
They  have  attended  a  Sunday-school  and  church 
services  in  which  men  and  women  of  their  own 
kind  met  together  and  praised  God  in  the  Eng- 
lish tongue.  Broader  visions  and  greater  possi- 
bilities in  the  mission  service  have  come  to  the 
father  and  mother.  They  have  lost  the  feeling 
of  loneliness  and  isolation.  In  body,  mind  and 
soul  they  have  been  refreshed.     God  bless  Ruling. 


XXI 

THE  FASCINATION  OF  THE  MISSION  FIELD 

WHAT  is  it  that  leads  men  and  women 
to  commit  themselves  to  the  mission 
field  for  a  life  service?     More  than  al- 
most any  other  class  of  people  they  are  held  up 
as  heroes  and  their  life  of  sacrificing  service  is 
constantly  pointed  out  to  the  Church  and  the 
world.     Secretaries  of  foreign  mission  societies 
speak  of  the  sacrifice  ;  friends  of  missionaries  call 
attention  to  it ;  but  it  is  rare  that  a  missionary 
himself  will  be  heard  characterizing  the  mission- 
ary service  as  a  heroic  or  self-sacrificing  task. 
That  there  are  hardships,  he  never  denies,  but  he 
believes  that  the  one  who  would  pity  him  for  the 
so-called  sacrifices  he  may  be  making,  has  not 
yet  caught  the  spirit  of  the  missionary  enterprise. 
Upon  a  like  basis  one  might  be  led  to  pity  our 
great  Master,  for  was  He  not,  too,  a  foreign  mis- 
sionary ?     Did  not  He  empty  Himself,  "  taking 
the  form  of  a  servant,  being  made  in  the  image 
of   man"?    "  He   humbled   Himself,   becoming 
obedient  unto  death,  yea,  even  the  death  of  the 
cross."     Now  we  can  say  with  reverence  that  it 
did  not  seem  to  impress  Him  as  a  great  sacrifice, 
for  over  in  Hebrews  we  are  told  that  He  endured 

209 


210    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

the  cross  and  despised  the  shame  **  for  the  joy 
that  was  set  before  Him." 

For  the  joy  that  was  set  before  them  His  dis- 
ciples left  their  nets  and  shops  and  schools  and 
went  out  to  endure  hardships  in  labours,  perils 
by  sea  and  land,  imprisonments  and  stripes,  cold 
and  hunger,  nakedness  and  the  sword,-^r  the 
joy  that  zvas  set  before  them.  They  might  have 
taken  up  other  lines  of  business,  but  the  passion  for 
saving  men,  even  at  the  expense  of  losing  for 
themselves  the  temporary  comforts  so  highly 
prized  by  other  men,  sent  them  out  and  kept 
them  out  to  the  end. 

For  the  joy  that  was  set  before  him,  Carey  was 
constrained  to  lead  the  modern  missionary  enter- 
prise ;  for  the  joy  that  was  set  before  him,  Mor- 
rison buried  himself  in  a  Canton  cellar  and  began 
the  work  of  breaking  down  the  walls  of  China's 
exclusiveness  ;  for  the  joy  that  was  set  before 
them,  Judson  went  to  Burmah,  MofEatt  and  Liv- 
ingstone to  Africa,  Paton  to  the  New  Hebrides, 
Miss  Agnew  and  Miss  Reed  to  women  of  India ; 
and  a  great  host  of  others  have  **  left  all  and  fol- 
lowed Him," — to  the  mission  field. 

Missionaries,  still  living,  have  left  their  children 
in  other  loving  hands  and  gone  back  to  the  fever- 
stricken  jungles  of  Africa  and  there,  upon  sick- 
beds, still  taught  their  dark  brothers  and  sisters 
the  way  to  heaven.  Men  have  brought  their 
families  to  the  home  land,  that  the  children  might 


THE  MISSION  FIELD  211 

not  be  denied  the  privilege  of  education,  and 
gone  back  alone  to  carry  on  the  work. 

Breaking  down  in  health,  missionaries  have 
returned  to  Christian  lands  to  repair  the  depleted 
strength  or  pass  through  grave  surgical  opera- 
tions only  to  return  at  the  earliest  moment  to  the 
land  where  they  had  been  pouring  out  their  life- 
strength  and  there  once  more  take  up  the  burden. 
One  family  who  endured  great  perils  and  hard- 
ships and  suffered  much  physical  pain  at  the 
hand  of  the  Boxers  who  were  **  drunk  with  the 
blood  of  the  martyrs,"  were  sent  to  Europe  and 
ministered  to  by  loving  friends  until  their  health 
was  regained.  Then  they  went  straight  back  to 
the  scene  of  their  tortures  and  began  the  task 
anew. 

Two  doctors  in  central  China  came  back  to 
America  when  they  saw  their  wives  failing  iu 
health.  They  brought  the  best  medical  skill  to 
fight  the  uneven  battle  with  death, — and  death 
won.  They  laid  their  loved  ones  in  their  graves, 
put  their  children  into  schools  under  the  care  of 
friends  and  straightway  returned  to  their  hos- 
pitals and  empty  homes  in  China.  One  mother 
returned  to  the  home  land  three  times  and  then 
retried  the  climate  of  China  hoping  to  become 
acclimatized  so  that  she  and  her  husband  might 
spend  their  lives  lifting  up  China.  Their  great- 
est hardship  was  endured  and  the  greatest  sacri- 
fice made  when  they  gave  up  the  unequal  strug- 


212    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

gle  and  abandoned  the  thought  of  foreign  mis- 
sions as  their  life-work. 

Apparently  to  live  and  die  upon  the  mission 
field  in  the  midst  of  the  fires  they  have  succeeded 
in  kindling,  is  the  height  of  satisfaction  to  such 
men  and  women.  Neither  is  this  ambition  con- 
fined merely  to  those  who,  while  still  largely  ig- 
norant of  the  conditions  in  heathen  lands,  offered 
themselves  for  the  service.  Others  who  have 
gone  abroad  to  visit  their  friends  in  mission  lands 
have  been  so  fascinated  by  the  opportunities 
offered  in  mission  service  that  they  have  re- 
turned to  their  homes,  made  necessary  arrange- 
ments, and  offered  themselves  to  their  boards. 
Business  men  and  women,  travelling  around  the 
world  for  pleasure  or  other  purpose  have  been 
seized  with  the  same  impulse  and  while  they 
could  not  give  themselves  to  direct  missionary 
service,  have  gladly  given  of  their  means. 

It  is  not  blind  fanaticism  which  thus  attracts 
and  holds  one  to  the  foreign  mission  field.  Con- 
tact with  actual  heathenism  robs  visionary  and 
misguided  zeal  of  its  halo  and  places  the  mis- 
sionary face  to  face  with  hard  facts.  If  he 
stays  at  the  task  it  is  because  something  besides 
fanaticism  holds  him  there.  There  is  a  joy  in  the 
mission  service,  joy  so  great  that  other  passions 
have  little  influence. 

The  rank  and  file  of  the  Christian  Church 
in  the  home  lands  do  not  seem  able  to  com- 


THE  MISSION  FIELD  213 

prehend  the  possibilities  of  obtaining  joy  in 
such  an  undertaking  as  the  conversion  of  the 
heathen  world.  Perhaps  one  must  have  fellow- 
ship in  the  sufferings  of  Christ  before  he  can  fully 
appreciate  fellowship  in  His  joy.  To  the  mis- 
sionary there  is  no  greater  work  than  treading 
in  the  footsteps  of  Christ  and  His  disciples  in 
fields  where  the  need  is  great  and  the  labourers 
few.  To  be  planted  in  the  midst  of  a  people 
whose  bodies,  minds  and  souls  are  crying  out  for 
the  *'  Glad  Tidings  "  you  have  to  offer ;  and  to 
be  the  only  ones  in  that  field  who  can  give  it  to 
them, — that  is  opportunity,  and  that  is  joy. 

The  missionary  has  not  been  in  the  field  long 
before  he  is  borne  down  with  the  appalling  fam- 
ine which  is  desolating  heathen  hearts.  They 
are  starving  and  dying  for  want  of  love  and 
hope.  Each  separate  man  and  woman  among 
them  seems  so  intensely  seeking  some  way  out 
of  the  awful  tangle,  called  life,  that  he  has  be- 
come callous  to  the  sufferings  of  all  others. 
Every  man  is  fighting  to  save  himself.  It  mat- 
ters not  if  salvation  is  obtained  by  climbing  over 
the  prostrate  forms  of  fellow  men.  Doubt,  fear 
of  demons  and  the  consciousness  of  sin  possess 
them  all.  They  are  lost  and  know  not  the  way 
home.  "  They  are  as  sheep  without  a  shepherd." 
They  die  like  wild  beasts  beside  the  roadway 
and  on  the  street  corners.  They  are  alone  in  their 
misery  with  no  one  to  pity,  to  comfort,  to  help. 


214    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

They  laugh  and  joke  ;  they  feast  and  listen  to 
the  story-tellers ;  they  buy  and  sell ;  they  grow 
rich  and  grow  poor  ;  they  marry  and  produce 
children ;  the  children  play  about  the  streets  like 
so  many  kittens  and  puppies  ;  but  through  it  all 
one  can  almost  hear  the  muttered  expression, 
**  Let  us  eat  and  drink  and  be  merry ;  for  to- 
morrow we  die." 

There  is  a  pitiableness  in  the  appeal  of  the 
beggar  by  the  road ;  a  loneliness  about  the 
refugee  dumbly  pursuing  his  way  towards  the 
land  of  plenty  which  ever  eludes  him  like  a 
will-o'-the-wisp  ;  a  hopelessness  about  the  father 
or  mother  bending  over  the  sick  child  ;  a  misery 
in  it  all  which  grips  the  missionary  and  holds 
him  to  his  post.  One  missionary,  after  passing 
through  the  first  years  of  contact  with  heathen- 
ism, in  a  letter  to  his  father,  cried  out  his  heart- 
sickness.  "  It  breaks  my  heart  to  see  the  misery 
of  these  starving  people,  starving  for  want  of  bread 
and  for  want  of  hope.  I  wish  the  Christians 
in  America  could  be  brought  face  to  face  wdth 
these  people  for  a  little  while  that  they  might 
realize  their  duty.  It  breaks  my  heart  to  see 
the  suffering  but,  after  once  seeing  it,  I  could 
not  leave  them  if  I  would.  They  need  me  and  1 
must  stay." 

The  missionary  has  watched  the  people  as  the 
love  of  Christ  slowly  penetrated  their  hearts. 
They  have    been    dwarfed    and    deformed   by 


THE  MISSION  FIELD  215 

heathenism.  Crushed  and  stunted,  can  they 
really  be  made  to  respond  to  the  warmth  of  His 
love?  The  missionary  watches  over  the  first 
glimmering  response  to  that  love.  He  sees  the 
hard  lines  disappear  and  the  hope  grow  in  their 
hearts.  The  love  of  Christ  does  satisfy  the 
hearts  of  all  men.  The  beggar  and  the  prince, 
the  ignorant  and  the  educated,  the  yellow  and 
the  white  race,  all  alike  quench  their  thirst  when 
they  come  to  this  fountain.  There  is  naught  else 
in  the  wide  universe  which  will  meet  and  satisfy 
the  hearts  of  all  men  save  the  love  of  Christ. 
To  watch  the  fear  going  out  and  the  peace  com- 
ing into  a  Chinese  heart  is  worth  all  the  hard- 
ships one  endures  on  the  mission  field. 

The  missionary  did  not  go  to  China  expecting 
to  find  good  roads,  carriages,  electric  cars, 
railroads,  telephones,  and  well-equipped  stores 
in  every  town.  Friends  will  often  ask,  **  Do  you 
really  like  it  better  out  there  than  here  in  the 
home  land?"  The  missionary  recalls  the  first 
sight  of  America  he  obtained  when  returning 
after  an  absence  of  seven  or  eight  years.  He 
remembers  the  thrill  he  experienced  when  the 
sight  of  the  stars  and  stripes  floating  from  the 
mast  of  some  vessel  greeted  his  eyes.  He  thinks 
of  the  maples,  the  oaks,  the  elms;  the  stores 
with  their  great  show  windows,  the  streets  with 
their  fine  pavements,  the  loved  friends  who 
gathered  around  to  greet  the  ones  long-absent 


216    BREAKING  DOWN  CHINESE  WALLS 

from  their  midst  and  he  has  no  hesitancy  in  say- 
ing, "  I  love  America  above  all  other  lands." 

But  when  the  same  friends  change  the  form  of 
the  question  to  **  Do  you  like  it  out  there?"  the 
answer  must  be  very  different.  Ask  the  soldier 
under  fire,  or  enduring  the  hardships  of  the 
march  or  the  privations  of  the  camp,  if  he  likes 
it.  Ask  the  physician  who  is  being  called  at  all 
hours  of  the  day  and  night  to  face  contagion  and 
virulent  diseases,  if  he  likes  it.  Ask  the  mes- 
senger who  goes  out  from  the  palace  of  the  king 
to  bear  a  message  to  some  far  frontier  point,  if  he 
likes  the  work.  They  will  tell  you  that  whether 
they  like  it  or  not,  that  has  nothing  to  do  with 
the  service  they  are  rendering  to  mankind. 
They  render  the  service  because  that  is  their 
business.  Do  they  receive  adequate  compensa- 
tion for  what  they  do  ?  might  be  a  more  timely 
question. 

Sleeping  in  dirty  inns,  travelling  over  difficult 
roads,  enduring  the  tropical  heat  and  heavy  rains, 
facing  persecutions  and  hunger,  isolated  from 
congenial  associations,  rearing  children  far  away 
from  their  own  kind,  becoming  companion  and 
teacher  to  them,  the  missionary  asks  not  if  he  likes 
it  all.  He  is  there  because  the  love  of  Christ  con- 
strained him  to  come  and  compensates  him  for  the 
sacrifices  he  makes  and  the  hardships  he  endures. 
It  is  the  King's  business.  The  King  commands 
and  he  obeys. 


THE  MISSION  FIELD  217 

When  Christians  in  all  lands  will  have  learned 
to  attend  services,  teach  and  pray,  visit  the  sick 
and  the  stranger,  minister  to  the  poor  and  the 
afflicted,  seek  the  lost  and  strengthen  the  weak, 
because  it  is  the  King's  business  and  the  King 
commands,  then  God  will  open  the  windows  of 
heaven  and  pour  out  a  blessing  that  there  shall 
not  be  room  enough  to  receive  it. 

"  I  am  so  glad  !     It  is  such  rest  to  know 
That  Thou  hast  ordered  and  appointed  all, 
And  wilt  yet  order  and  appoint  my  lot. 
For  though  so  much  I  cannot  understand. 
And  would  not  choose,  has  been,  and  yet  may  be, 
Thou  choosest,  Thou  performest.  Thou,  my  Lord. 
That  is  enough  for  me." 


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FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


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FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


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FOREIGN  MISSIONS— BIOGRAPHY 


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